


Displaced by Time

by Cyhyr



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Violence, Gladio/Ignis, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Noctis/Luna - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel Fix-It, Visions, cornyx
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22344448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyhyr/pseuds/Cyhyr
Summary: Vesper Scienta wanted nothing more out of life than to make sure her charge and best friend, Prince Aster Amicitia, was happy. She would follow him, always, and keep him safe, as her appointment as Shield dictates she must. She was happy. They were happy.Then they found the Messengers.Now she's flitting through time itself, racing against the weakening pulse of the Crystal. It's been almost nineteen years since the Dawn Returned, and the world needs saving again. Vesper just doesn't understand why it has to be her, or why the Messengers separated her and Aster, or why they paired her with the daughter of the Marshal and the son of the King of Light - both from different times.Time's running out. The star will burn. Raise the dawn, become the night, restore the Crystal.Vesper just wants to be with Aster again.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 9





	1. The First Vision

**Author's Note:**

> A response to a kinkmeme prompt that got seriously out of hand.
> 
> https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/5690.html?thread=10818874#cmt10818874

The thrum of the motorcycle shook her bones and turned her stomach, but his arms around her waist as he whooped behind her made it worth every risk she took. The desert of Leide whipped by, sandstone structures as old as the gods and nothing but cacti as far as she could see. Her phone rumbled against her thigh, the fifth call in the last twenty minutes, and as all the other times she ignored it. Prince Aster wanted only one thing for his birthday: to be a normal teenager for one last time before he inherited the title of Crown Prince. He wanted to go on a trip with his best friend and no other guards, and he wanted the destination to be a surprise.

Vesper, ever indulgent, made sure to give him exactly what he wanted. Just the two of them, a promise to only call him by his first name, and a destination that he’ll both enjoy and never see coming.

She slowed down a bit driving through Longwythe. “Did you want to stop here, High—” she caught herself— “Aster?”

He yelled back, “Your call, Vee! We gonna be on the road much longer?”

In response, she revved the engine and sped out of town. Behind her, Aster laughed and tightened his hold around her waist. Her heart fluttered and she longed to close her eyes and savor the moment, but she was driving and couldn’t put Aster in danger like that. They leaned together around the turns of the road to the coast and soon enough, the left turn she needed to make to bring them to Galdin Quay was beside them.

The air was fresh and salty, just as she remembered.

The heat of the parking lot baking in the sun was oppressive and so they rushed to get to the boardwalk. Once on the wooden boards leading out to the resort and pier, they slowed down and enjoyed the sea breeze. Vesper started as her phone vibrated in her pocket; a glance at the screen showed Gladio calling her. A swipe of her thumb ignored the call, and then she winced at the number she’s missed.

Forty-three. Most were from Her Majesty and Cor, but Gladio made a few appearances and even Miss Cindy’s name showed up twice. She glanced up and saw that Aster was also absorbed in going through his phone’s messages. So when she scrolled through the missed calls again and noticed one crucial name missing from the list, she swallowed the lump in her throat and shoved the phone back into her pocket. She put on a brave face as Aster’s began to fall, and reached out for his hand.

“I didn’t think they’d be this worried,” Aster muttered.

“They’re upset that we’re messing with their plans,” Vesper said, pulling his phone out of his hand and turning it off. “Who wants a royal birthday ball when you could spend your day sailing on the ocean with your best friend?” The lump refused to go away, and she worried for a moment that Aster’s deepening frown meant that he heard it.

“Sailing? With what boat?”

“Whichever one we can get!” Vesper said walking backwards. She spun around and began to jog towards the pier once she was sure that Aster would follow. She blinked back a tear and blamed it on the salt in the air. Once Aster caught up to her she wiped at her face, smiled at him, and then lead the way through the restaurant at a stride.

A few people recognized the Lucian prince and began to stand. Aster ducked his head and sped to the pier, and Vesper glared at them to sit back down. Those that were going to stand immediately turned back to their food and let the two of them get to the pier in peace.

Once they were out of the restaurant, Aster passed his phone between his hands, frowning. “Should I…? My mother must be worried sick.”

Vesper shrugged. “It’s your choice. I suggested not telling anyone because they would send people after us. But if you need to speak to Her Majesty, I won’t stop you.”

Aster looked down at his phone and hovered his thumb over the power button for a moment. Vesper waited for his decision. He held out his other hand. “Give me your phone,” he rushed. She complied, and then immediately regretted it when he threw both phones into the sea. They both watched the place where the phones sank with an air of finality. Vesper nudged Aster's shoulder with her own, and then nodded to a fisherman tying up his boat down the dock.

“Say, mister,” Aster called out as they approached, “Would you be interested in renting out your boat for a few hours?” Vesper heard the slight quiver in his voice; throwing their phones away must have shaken him more than it had her.

The fisherman looked at the two of them and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t I know you two from somewhere?”

Vesper opened her wallet and counted out two thousand gil. “This is for forgetting wherever you may have seen us,” she said, handing the money to the wide-eyed fisherman. She counted out another three thousand gil and continued, “and this is if you’ll let us borrow your boat for a few hours. It’s his birthday.” While Aster gaped at her, she held the money steady and waited for the fisherman’s decision.

“You bring her back, yeah?” the man muttered and took the money. “She’s my life, y’know.”

Vesper took Aster’s hand and helped him into the boat. The fisherman gave her the keys and told her to tie it up when she got back, but then left with his hands in his pockets. With one last look toward the pier, she climbed in after Aster and started up the boat. Thankfully, it was a similar model to the one Miss Cindy used to take her and Uncle Prompto out on when she was very little.

She set course for the winged island and watched Aster close his eyes against the wind. The boat was large enough to not capsize against the ocean’s waves, yet still small enough that Aster was within arm’s reach even though they were on opposite sides of the boat. With the sky infinite behind him and the sun warming his skin, he looked more like his Uncle Gladio than his mother. Regardless, Vesper wished the vision to burn itself in her eyes, that she might always see him at such peace.

“Why are we going to Angelgard?” he asked.

She glanced back forward. “I thought it would be interesting to see if we can find the Crystal. It’s been missing since before we were born, and Angelgard is the only place left unsearched.”

Aster bounced on the edge of his seat. “Can you get us there any faster?”

They laughed together. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.

* * *

“Vee?”

She looked up from where she was checking over the boat. The dock she found to tie it to was unexpected but not unappreciated. It could stand to be a bit larger and farther into the water. They might run aground if they weren’t careful getting out.

“Your father,” he started, “he never called, did he?”

Vesper sighed and tightened the rope once more. “Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t concern you.”

“If Ignis is upset that we left—”

“It’s not that,” Vesper interrupted. She put her hands on his shoulders. “It has nothing to do with today, Aster. Let me deal with my father when we get home, and you focus on being the one to discover the Crystal.” With one more tap on his shoulder, she walked by him, holding back a cough that would turn into a cry if she dared to let it. The fight she and her father had the previous night still ached in her chest, but there was nothing to be done about it. She knew that she was right to bring Aster away from the Citadel for one day—the smile that shone in his eyes was proof enough for that—and she also knew that she was plenty enough to guard her prince against any happenings.

Aster caught up and then passed her by, stumbling over the rocky shore to get to a cave on the hill. He turned and waited for her; she looked up and followed.

It would always be like this, Vesper knew. And she was okay with it. She didn’t want anything else but to follow Aster wherever life would take them.

They stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the mouth of the cave. Vesper pulled out two clip-on lights from a pocket lower on her thigh, and handed one to Aster. They’d once belonged to her father and the late King Noctis, but they were old and dusty when she’d found them over a week ago. It had been startling, holding a piece of her father’s past in her hands that proved that he hadn’t always been blind. But at least he wouldn’t miss the lights if he ever did go looking for them.

They picked their way through the cave, helping hands reaching out to one another as needed. In their concentration, neither spoke. Sometimes they would hear rustling and growling deeper in the cave and they would freeze. But then the sounds stopped, and their descent into Angelgard continued.

Vesper took a glance at her watch and sighed softly. Only an hour had passed since they’d gotten off the boat. It felt like they were getting nowhere with how slow they had to walk. Yet a glance over her shoulder showed the same pitch black as in front of her; the mouth of the cave was no longer visible.

“Should we go back?” Vesper asked.

Aster shook his head. “We’ve come this far. Let’s see where this cave goes.”

Their lights went out. No flickering, no dimming warning. Vesper reached out to where Aster had been beside her, and her hand met air. She stepped away from the wall, both hands swinging in the air carefully. “Aster?”

“Here,” his voice came from her right. She shuffled across to him and sighed in relief when her hand met his. He squeezed her hand three times and she returned the gesture. 

“Vee, look,” Aster whispered. Sure enough, she was able to follow his finger and see a faint blue light pulsing around a corner. They walked forward as one. Vesper tried to put herself between the light and Aster, in case it was dangerous, but he refused to step behind her.

She tightened her hand around his.

Voices—no language Vesper knew, at least—became audible soon enough. Around the corner, the Crystal throbbed a blue breeze that couldn’t even lift Vesper’s hair from her shoulders. This was not the grand stone told about in stories, with its waves of energy and magic. This was sickly, wrinkled, and weak. The pulse of magic Vesper was expecting was instead an arrhythmic heartbeat.

Around the Crystal was a collection of creatures in all shapes and sizes. Some were tiny and perched on another’s shoulders or head, others were giant enough to brush their bodies against the ceiling of the cavern. Some were humanoid, others were only vaguely recognizable as humanoid, and others still were something else entirely. The din that echoed from their voices pushed Aster back against Vesper’s side. She watched the creatures “talk” over each other, and started counting. Twenty-two figures—and one of them was a black dog with white markings. Uncle Prompto would tell them stories when they were younger and going through his old photo albums, and that dog looked exactly like his photos of one of the late Oracle’s Messengers, Umbra.

Twenty-two figures. If Vesper remembered her history lessons, Pryna passed during the Rite of Altissia, and Gentiana turned out to be the Astral, Shiva, in disguise. That would indeed leave twenty-two… “Aster,” she muttered, “those are Messengers.”

He nodded slowly beside her, keeping his eyes on them. “All of them, too,” he said. “But with both the Oracle and the Caelum lineage ended, what message could the Astrals even have?” 

Vesper held in her own questions, as the voices stopped. The Messengers were still for only a few seconds before, one by one, they began to vanish. She had to refocus every time the figure she was watching would disappear. When finally it was just Umbra left, the dog padded over to where Vesper and Aster still stood.

Aster sucked in a deep breath and rolled his shoulders back. Vesper took a step toward the Messenger and knelt to be at Umbra’s height. “Is that really the Crystal?” she asked.

Umbra lifted a paw and placed it on her raised knee. He gave a soft woof and then whined. She followed his gaze as he turned to look at the Crystal. He then left her and walked back toward it. Aster helped her stand up and they stood shoulder-to-shoulder for a moment, waiting. Umbra looked back at them once more before vanishing.

Vesper put out an arm to stop Aster’s forward motion. “Don’t you remember the stories? The Crystal absorbed King Noctis because he touched it.”

“Yeah, but he was also the King of Light,” Aster reasoned. He pushed her arm down and took her hand. “Don’t tell me you’re not curious.”

She huffed a laugh. “I am, but I have to put your safety first.”

“I thought today I was just Aster? Not the prince of Lucis?”

“Even if you weren’t my charge, I’d still put your safety first, you know that.”

He shook his head, huffing a laugh. “Don’t I,” he muttered. “We found the Crystal, Vee, and look at it,” he waved his other hand out at the stone, still weakly emitting the blue pulses of magic. “Maybe we can figure out what’s wrong with it!”

“In what universe would we be able to diagnose the planet’s mystical lifesource?”

“The same one where a Messenger was waiting for us?” He laughed and swung their hands back and forth. “C’mon, Vee. We’re both curious, and we both want to touch it. So let’s just do it.”

“Let me go first, in case it lashes out.”

Aster shook his head. “We do it together. On three.”

They stared each other down for only a moment before Vesper gave his hand three squeezes and nodded. “Together, then.” 

They closed the distance to the Crystal, the air around them lifting the hairs on their arms. The musty smell and dark claustrophobia of the cave gave way to ozone and rain, a burning fire, a spray of salty waves, the chill of a winter’s day, the richness of a garden freshly tilled, and a metallic tang and the hyperfocus of battle. They both reached forward.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three!” They both firmly pressed their palms to the stone—

No longer were they in the cave with the Crystal, but on a wide-open desert plateau. Unlike Leide, though, there were no cacti, no roaming beasts, no distant rumble of a vehicle. The sky was streaked red and black. They waved embers away from their faces and coughed around flakes of ash and soot. Hand-in-hand, they felt compelled to walk forward. The ground crunched beneath their feet.

They soon became parched, both in their throat and mouth and upon their skin. Their bellies ached and cramped. Still they walked. The air was at once burning hot and a deep bone-chilling cold. Neither could shiver nor could they sweat as they followed the urge to go forward.

The red in the sky faded away, and they were soon only in darkness. Still they walked.

One of them kicked a rock and it landed without a sound. Still they walked.

The soot and ash stopped burning and finally settled on the ground. Still they walked.

Their tongues dried out and stuck their mouths shut. The air stilled and staled. The only sensation left was their joined hands and the ground upon which they walked. And when that left them too, they finally stopped walking. 

It was all gone. Vesper couldn’t feel the steady warmth of Aster’s palm, nor the ground beneath her feet, nor the clothes on her back. She was so parched that she could neither scream nor cry. All she could do was whimper Aster’s name as the world ended around them. She wasn’t sure if she closed her eyes or if they simply dried up. Either way, she let out a breath and didn’t bother taking another in.

* * *

Vesper awoke crying to a gentle hand combing through her hair and a calming _shh_ from her bedside. Her senses came to her all at once and she sobbed to be able to experience the world once more.

“It was only a dream, dear one,” her father’s voice came from above her. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t real.”

Vesper curled into her pillow and hiccupped. He continued to rub her back and pet her hair while she shook and sniffled. It was a dream. Just a dream. Just…

“Come now, this isn’t like you,” Ignis chuckled. “Do you need a moment to collect yourself?”

Vesper answered, “No, thank you. I’m feeling better already.” Indeed, she rolled over and wiped at her face until she felt decent, and then took a few deep breaths.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

She shuffled back to the middle of her bed and watched the sun rise through the sheer curtains on the window. Her chest clenched at the memory of her phone’s missed calls list and not one of the names listed being her own father. And here he was, sitting at the edge of her bed comforting her from a nightmare like she was a child again. Like their fight two days ago hadn’t happened.

Perhaps a leaf from his book is a good idea right now, she thought. Talk like the fight hadn’t happened. “So, for Aster’s birthday we went to Angelgard and found the—”

“Aster?”

“Yes, I told you that we were going on a road trip, just the two of us, and—”

“Vesper, dear, are you sure you’re feeling well? Who’s Aster?”

Her body froze and her heart stopped. “What do you mean, ‘who’s Aster’? My best friend? Prince of Lucis? Son of Queen Iris?” Her father’s hand sought out her forehead and rested there for a moment. She pushed it away. “I’m not ill,” she snapped.

“I can feel that,” Ignis mused. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Her Majesty has not yet had a child, let alone one named Aster.”

“His birthday was yesterday!” She sat back up and scrubbed her face with the heel of her hand. “He wanted a day away from the Citadel. The stories of the Crystal have always fascinated him, so I brought him to Angelgard to look for it. We found it, and then we saw Umbra, and we—”

“You went to Angelgard?” Ignis breathed, but then shook his head. “Vesper, we had a quiet day at home yesterday. This dream you had must have truly shaken you.”

“No, I,” she stopped. Thought, for a moment. “We did have a quiet day, didn’t we,” she started. “But it wasn’t yesterday, that was two days ago. And then that night, I told you I was taking Aster out for his birthday and we fought.”

Ignis hummed. “We certainly had a disagreement last night, but it wasn’t about this boy.” They sat in silence for a few seconds, and then Ignis continued, “You said you found the Crystal? And Umbra?” He didn’t wait for her answer, and said, “A dream likely would have begun fading by now, but the Crystal works in mysterious ways.”

“So you believe me?”

“That you believe it.”

“That’s not the same and you know it.”

“Take some time, collect your thoughts, and join Gladio and myself downstairs for breakfast. We’ll talk it over and figure this out.” Ignis took the few steps to the doorway, and then turned back to her. She kept her gaze away from her father’s unseeing eyes. He paused, then tapped three times on her door frame before leaving.

Out of habit more than anything, Vesper reached for her phone, plugged in and face-down on her nightstand. And then, once it was in her hand, she nearly dropped it onto her lap with a gasp. Aster had thrown it in the ocean, had he not? Habit or no, her phone shouldn’t be here. Her palms sweat as she unlocked it, both relieved and concerned that there was no water damage. Though as she passed through the information in both her calendar and phonebook, her stomach turned. Whatever the Crystal and Umbra had done, it was the morning of Aster’s birthday again. The forty-three missed calls weren’t in her call log, and even Aster’s entry in her phonebook was gone. The phone went back on the nightstand, unhelpful as it was.

She flipped the covers out of her way and opened her wardrobe to dress. Her staple pieces were still there: a black skirted suit for council meetings, a heavy hooded sweater for being out at night, a supple leather jacket. Neatly pressed and hung dark pants and lighter-colored blouses for everyday wear were sorted along one side of the wardrobe and the other side held baskets of folded workout clothes, jeans, and tee-shirts. 

“At least something is right,” she muttered, and reached for a red blouse. The second she lifted it from the hanger, though, her heart stuttered and her fingers faltered. 

It was too light.

“No, no, no,” she moved through the hangers, feeling each piece of clothing and then visually checking every seam and panel. She covered her mouth to muffle a cry and dropped to her knees, hanging onto the last pair of pants with her other hand. Every piece that had once been reinforced with lightweight armor after her appointment as Shield was missing that extra weight. 

She groaned. “Pick yourself up, Vesper,” she muttered. “Aster needs you, armored or not.”

She looked to the baskets of folded clothing, picked out leggings and a thin tee-shirt, and dressed herself from the floor. It felt more like she was going to the gym rather than on a mission to find her prince, but at least she’d be able to move. She stood up and stretched, turned and picked up her phone from the nightstand, and looked once more into the wardrobe of a Vesper she didn’t know how to be. She took out the leather jacket from the wardrobe before shutting it and leaving her room.

Her hair went up in a bun as she went downstairs and stopped at the front door to put her boots on before turning back to the kitchen. She didn’t even make it past the stairs again without nearly tripping, having expected the boots to be much heavier than they were. She put two fingers against the toe; these weren’t reinforced, either. She kicked her feet out a few times, and then finally went into the kitchen. 

To her right, her father was busy at the stove adding cheese to scrambled eggs. Beside him, Gladio—Aster’s uncle—was buttering toast. To her left, the kitchen table was pushed up against the windows, leaving three sides for three bodies to sit. The fourth chair in the set was in the far corner of the room, holding a large houseplant that Vesper distinctly remembered getting into an argument with Gladio over whether it belonged in the kitchen or the living room. 

Gladio had won the argument, but Aster had helped her move the plant.

“Set the table, please.”

Vesper went to do as her father bid. Her feet made a wide arc around where the table had once been, and she smiled back at Gladio when he turned around and said good morning to her. Soon enough they were seated around the table, each with a plate of eggs on toast. She took the seat that put her back to the spare chair, which also put her across the table from her father. Gladio was the last to sit down, setting down coffee for himself and Ignis, and tea for Vesper.

“Iggy says you had a pretty vivid dream,” Gladio started. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“What are your plans for today, then?”

Vesper glared at her food. “I’m gonna go back to Angelgard and find out what happened.”

“Back?”

Ignis answered, “Her dream. She was at Angelgard and found the Crystal and Umbra.”

“It’s the last place I saw Aster,” she said. “I have to find him.”

Gladio leaned his chair back and crossed his arms. “And what if he’s not real?”

“He’s real!”

“Then show us some proof, please, my dear.”

“I don’t have any!” She pushed her thumbs into her temples and took a few deep breaths, and blinked back tears. Her breath stuck in her throat and her arms shook. “Why don’t you two believe me?”

“Kiddo, come on.” Gladio rubbed her back. “You gotta admit it’s a little unbelievable.”

“We don’t want you going all the way to Angelgard on a dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream!”

She pushed Gladio’s hand off her back and stood up, ignoring the rest of her breakfast. Gladio stood up and tried blocking her way out of the kitchen, but she shouldered past him the way he’d taught her. Ignis reached out a hand and tugged on hers as she passed, but she twisted her arm out of his hold and continued on her way.

Neither man tried to stop her further. She made it out of the house as her tears finally dried up.

* * *

The cavern to the Crystal was right where she remembered it. At least something finally proved to her that her father was incorrect. This time she didn’t hesitate as she turned on her light and picked her way through the boulders and rocky ground. She kept her focus straight ahead and let her feet find the right steps without tripping or slipping. This time, she wasn’t apprehensive when the blue light and pulsing energy of the Crystal came into view.

This time, Umbra had a second Messenger with him; the white dog in service to the late Oracle, Pryna.

“I thought you had died in the Covenant with Leviathan,” she said, not expecting a response. “Where’s Aster?”

Both dogs twisted in place and looked at the Crystal. One of them whined. Umbra gave a slow half-wag of his tail. Vesper walked between them and looked at them both. Umbra panted and leaned his whole body against her leg. Pryna pawed at her knee and whined again. She steeled herself with a deep breath, and then with three steps she was standing in front of the Crystal.

“Will it tell me where he is?”

One of the Messengers pushed their snout against the back of her knee.

She put her hand on the Crystal and let it take her.

She watched, still and exhausted, as the six of them bickered and fought and refused to—to—they were children. She didn’t have the energy to be angry, just begged them to help her. To do their chores because she couldn’t do it all. Her children snapped at her that they did their jobs and wanted to rest but it wasn’t time for resting.

Please admit you all made a mistake and help me.

The children were prideful and resolute. Her oldest was especially self-righteous and sure in his actions. But she ached and, yes, she wanted her children to be able to rest, but she also needed—

Vesper stepped back and groaned, a hand pressed to her head. The Crystal pulsed stronger for a moment, and then went back to its weaker pulses. Vesper fell to her hands and knees and breathed. Her body ached, like she’d climbed a mountain carrying a backpack full of rocks. She looked to the side when Pryna pushed her snout into her shoulder.

“What is going on?”

Pryna only looked at the Crystal again. On her other side, Umbra yipped.

Vesper reached up with a sigh and plunged back into the Crystal.

Around her, waves of floating crystals reflected glimpses of Eos. The Disc of Cauthess at night; a farmer selecting seeds; the Meteor falling from the sky; the sea churning with a storm. So many pictures, so many lives, and she pushed herself to fuel them all. This world was hers and if her children wouldn’t help her keep it then she would maintain it herself. Even if it wasn’t sustainable.

And it wasn’t. One of the crystals reflected darkness and sickness and hunger. A young boy chosen to bear the weight of that darkness and sickness and hunger. As her eldest proclaimed, she took another child into herself to imbue him with more power than even her own children. Her children then pit those two humans against each other, claiming both lives. 

At the behest of the creatures of this world, her children removed the Scourge. And now they sleep, content in their success and ignorant to her plight.

Vesper pulled away from the Crystal. All around her in the cavern, were the Messengers, twenty-three in total, all looking at her. The air sparked with expectation and she groaned.

“Where’s Aster?”

A tall, broad Messenger with sword on their hip and a dog at their side, said, “His aid is not enough.”

“Time will end,” another Messenger said.

“This star will burn.”

“The Crystal must be revived.”

“Must be saved.”

“We still have Time with which to heal Her.”

“Will you help us?”

Vesper pulled at her hair. “No, no, no, no!!!” The Messengers stopped speaking and the Crystal continued to pulse. “I just. I just want Aster back. How do I get him back?”

“Create a Time that keeps Her well.”

“I don’t give a damn about the Crystal!!! Where’s Aster???”

“Relieve Her of Her burden.”

“Raise the dawn.”

“Become the night.”

“Help Her.”

“Time will end and the world will burn.”

“Let it burn, then.” Vesper hissed. “If I don’t have him, the result is the same.”

One by one, the Messengers disappeared, disappointed. Finally it was only her and Umbra and Pryna left. Both dogs pushed their noses into her shoulders and whined.

“I just want him back,” she whispered. Her throat was swollen and her eyes held tears. “All I came here for was to find him. Please, tell me I can get him back somehow.”

Neither Messenger answered.

She turned and put her hand back on the Crystal, waiting for another vision; none came. “Tell me what I have to do,” she said.

But still the Crystal remained silent.

“This is pointless,” she muttered. “I’m talking to a glowing rock and two dogs. What is wrong with me.”

* * *

The rising sun, warm on her face, woke her up. She didn’t remember falling asleep, let alone making it back to Insomnia; yet here she was, back in her bed at home. Vesper reached for her phone, plugged in on her nightstand, and winced. It was Aster’s birthday. Again. Aster’s name was missing from her phonebook. Again.

Her wardrobe was bare of any practical armor befitting her title of the Prince’s Shield. Again.

Talking to her father and Gladio hadn’t helped yesterday—last time—today—whatever. But today, she also had new information. She would try once more. She dressed in jeans and a thin black tee, leaving her leather jacket in the closet. In her nightstand, a small blue box stared up at her. This, she grabbed and then left her room.

Downstairs, she ran her fingers along her father’s Glaive jacket hanging by the door. It would be a little broad in the shoulder, but otherwise a perfect fit. She stuck the box in the pocket of the jacket and then turned into the kitchen.

“Father, can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Certainly,” Ignis said, handing the eggs off to Gladio. He followed the counters and walls of the kitchen with a steady hand and sure feet. Vesper let him put his hand on her shoulder when he got to the doorway. She led the way to the couch and sat them down.

“I need to explain something that’s happened, and I need your advice. But there are some things in this story that seem unreal and I need you to accept that what I’m telling you is true.”

“You have my ear. Go on, and I’ll keep an open mind.”

Once she had finished the story, she gave him a moment to process it. Then she asked, “If the Messengers are right and the world is going to end… what would you do? What should I do?”

Vesper waited for her father to collect his thoughts. “Those questions have different answers,” he finally said. “I received a vision from a Messenger, once, and was unable to stop the future it foretold.”

“You never told me about that,” she said.

“It is a painful memory, one I do not like to recall,” Ignis said. “But I tried, initially, to stop it from happening. Yet, Noct would not be deterred.” He smiled the same wistful smile he always gave whenever he thought of the late King. “But the Messengers are asking you to help them prevent this future. I wish they would have chosen anyone else, and it pains me to tell you this, but you should go.”

He took her hand and turned his head in her general direction. “Perhaps divine missions are to be a family tradition.”

“It’s the logical decision,” she nodded.

“It’s the right decision,” he said. “But first, you can have breakfast.”

* * *

After breakfast, she stared down the jacket hanging by the door. She would need to stop and get armored clothing before going back to Angelgard. But if she did nothing else, this would work. She would need weapons, supplies, food—

“Ready to go, Vee?”

She turned around. “Go?”

Gladio laughed. “You think you’re so sneaky, taking Iggy aside like that. C’mon, we’ll go see Cor first and get you kitted out properly for saving the world.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Kid, I’m a little hurt you didn’t think you could talk about it in front of me, but I get wanting to talk to your dad first.” He reached past her and grabbed the jacket off its hook. “But mostly, I’m proud that the Messengers think you’re the best girl for whatever job they’ve got for you.”

Vesper smiled and punched Gladio in the shoulder, getting a tap on her own shoulder in return. She turned and saw Ignis in the doorway to the kitchen, making his way over to the two of them by the front door.

He then took the jacket out of Gladio’s hands, opened it, and held it for her. She slipped into it, and he turned her around and worked the clasps. He held his arms open and she fell into the embrace he offered.

As he kissed her hair, he whispered, “Walk tall, my dear.”

Whatever response she could have said caught in her throat. She tore herself away, followed Gladio out the door, and didn’t look back. Her joints were shaky, and her chest was tight. But she got in the passenger seat and kept her eyes forward as Gladio drove away. It was a quick, quiet drive, odd for being in Gladio’s car but she appreciated it.

The steps of the Citadel were wide and grand and solemn. Queen Iris was waiting alongside the Marshal as they drove up. Her Majesty’s smile was vibrant as Vesper and Gladio stepped out of the car and walked up. Even Cor’s eyes seemed to crinkle at the corners.

She took Vesper’s hands and lifted her chin up for their eyes to meet. “Your father called us. After losing Noctis,” she sniffled, “I wouldn’t have thought that the world would need saving again so soon!”

“It’s been almost twenty years, Your Majesty,” Vesper said.

“And yet it feels like yesterday seeing Gladdy and the others walk out of Insomnia to the rising sun.”

“You were just beginning to toddle when the Dawn returned,” Cor said. “And now here you are, walking out on your own.”

Iris pulled her in for a tight hug. “Don’t forget you can always come home.”

“I know. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Walk with me a moment,” she asked, and Vesper nodded to Gladio and Cor and followed Iris to the nearest garden. Vesper used to play with Aster in this garden under the secure eye of the Marshal. What had this reality’s little Vesper done for fun as a child, with no Aster? They sat down on one of the benches overlooking a pond.

“Ignis explained that the Crystal is dying, and the Messengers picked you to save it.”

“That’s correct.”

“What would happen if you chose not to go?”

“The world would burn, I guess.”

“They would pick someone else,” Iris said, and took Vesper’s hand between both of her own. “Vesper, in all but name you’re my niece. I don’t want you to do this if it doesn’t feel right.”

“You’d rather I let the world die?”

“I’d rather you stay here, safe. Let the Messengers choose a different champion.” Iris sighed. “Ignis also explained that there’s a boy involved.”

“Aster. Your son.”

“A son,” she murmured, looking off into the pond.

“Your Majesty?”

“Sorry,” she shook her head. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me who Aster’s father was?”

“I would if I knew,” Vesper said. “He was always an Amicitia to me.”

“Aster Amicitia,” Iris breathed, smiling. “I did always like that name.” She turned back to Vesper and continued, “But, really. Tell me, Vesper—are you doing this to save the Crystal, or the boy?”

“Can’t it be both?”

Iris shrugged. “Initially, sure. But if it comes down to a choice between the two?”

She had meant it at the time, when she told the Messengers that the world could burn if she didn’t have Aster. But she had also been upset and stressed. Could she truly let the Crystal die, let the world fade to nothing, for the sake of one life? 

“I don’t know.”

“That’s fine, for now,” Iris said. “But you need to keep thinking about it. I hope you never have to make that choice, but if it happens you need to be prepared.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“That’s all I can ask.”

They stayed in the garden for another minute before Cor and Gladio came to get them. Cor handed her an old rifle, one she recognized with a smile. “I wish we still had access to the Crystal’s magic, so we could send you with a better weapon than this,” he said.

“But any weapon is better than no weapon,” Iris said.

Vesper nodded, taking it. She stood up, pulled the strap over her head, and secured the rifle to her back, just as Prompto had once shown her. “Besides, this way even Uncle Prompto is seeing me off, too, in a way.”

Gladio coughed and pulled her into a tight hug, careful of the rifle. “You’re too much, kid.” He rocked them back and forth a few times, and then asked, “Are you ready to go save the world?”

“No,” she said. “But I’m off anyway.”

Gladio let her step back but kept his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t need to do this. But if this,” he pointed to her stomach, “and this,” to her head, “and this,” to her heart, “are all saying the same thing, you need to listen.”

“I don’t think I understand,” Vesper said slowly.

He smiled. “You will. Walk tall, kid.” With that he clapped her on the back; she stumbled forward a step with its force.

“Need a ride to Galdin Quay?” Cor asked.

She shook her head. “I have one last thing I want to do. Alone, if you please.” She bowed to Queen Iris one last time, and then turned and left the garden, Cor, and Gladio behind. She walked down the corridors until she got to a lift, one that would take her to living chambers. The walk to the room that was once Aster’s was quick and mindless and she didn’t pass anyone on the way.

The room was exactly as it had always been. Pale gray walls and navy-blue trim, with long white sheers on the windows. The bed was made up in the same blue as the trim,and the rug was plush under her feet. She and Aster had shared that bed when they were kids, before it became scandalous for the teenaged prince to be having sleepovers with a girl. The rug had seen dance parties, board games, and nights spent pretending to stargaze on the ceiling.

But other than the furnishings, it was empty. The blanket she had once made for him was gone from the end of the bed. Paintings that they had found together on a trip to Lestallum were missing from the wall. The room wasn’t even lived in enough to have a laundry basket. Aster’s had always been emptied on Fridays while he attended to his studies.

“Pryna? Umbra?” Her voice echoed in the room. “Are you listening?”

Two yips from her right said yes, and she turned to face them. The two Messengers sat and wagged their tails slowly.

“I’m ready,” she said. Pryna barked a few times and stood up, turned in a circle, and then jumped up to lick at her face. Vesper laughed. “Alright, alright. What’s first?”

Umbra came forward then and held out his paw. She took one more look around the room and then knelt. She let Umbra rest his paw in her palm and then the world melted away.


	2. A Trial By Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vesper is brought together with others the Messengers have chosen to aid the Crystal. 
> 
> Their first night together doesn't go as well as it could have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest thanks to my betas, LycoRogue and Nyx_Aeternum, for being frank and critical. This story wouldn't be nearly as good without your input.

The world came back in colors, fading from reds to greens to purples, and when her vision settled she recognized the place Umbra had taken her as a haven southwest of Lestallum. The glyphs and symbols carved into bedrock, strangely, emitted a faint blue light like the Crystal. The sun was beginning to set in the distance and the Messengers were nowhere around. There were, however, two other humans standing on the haven with her. The three of them made a triangle, facing in, and the other two framed the setting sun behind them.

“Either of you seen a medium-sized white dog anywhere?” one of them, a young woman, asked. She was wearing the heavy black uniform of the Kingsglaive, but she couldn’t have been much older than Vesper herself; her time in the Glaive can’t have been long.

“Or a black one,” the other, a young man, muttered. The young man also wore a Glaive uniform, though his seemed rougher on the edges. The heavy fabric drew his shoulders down and hunched his back. Whoever had outfitted him, they’d done a terrible job at armoring him for his stature. Worse though, he was _staring_ ; maybe he had poor eyesight, but Vesper felt a chill as she met his eyes.

Vesper shook her head and put it out of her mind. There were more important matters to attend. “Messengers, not dogs.” she said. She caught the woman’s eye roll and gracefully decided to ignore it. “They must have put the three of us together for a reason.”

“The Crystal?”

“The damn Astrals, you mean,” the man growled, his gaze shifting to the other woman along with his anger.

Vesper held up her hands, ready to step between them if needed. “We’ve barely met, no need to fight. I’m Vesper Scienta.” She stuck out her hand between them, hoping one of them would take it. 

For a long moment, neither did. Then, the woman grinned. “Neat trick of the Messengers, pulling you all the way from Tenebrae,” she said, taking her hand and shaking it. “Eleos Ulric-Leonis, nice to meet you. I didn’t know Ignis had an older sister? Cousin?”

Vesper paused in their handshake and said, “Ah, that was. Not accurate at all.” She pulled her hand back as Eleos tilted her head to the side, then explained, “I lived in Tenebrae for a time, but I’m from Insomnia. And Ignis Scienta is my father, not—”

“That’s impossible,” Eleos interrupted. “Ignis is _sixteen_.”

“And yet.” 

The two women turned to the man after he spoke, and Vesper noticed that his skin was pale and gaunt, with deep circles under his eyes and a thin throat. He was staring openly at her, the barest of trembles in his lower lip.

“Voti Lucis Caelum,” he finally said, taking and shaking each of their hands. “It’s clearly not impossible if the proof stands in front of you. I thought it impossible to see the sun, and yet Ignis Scienta’s child stands in front of me glowing in its light. I thought it impossible that Cor would have ever subjected himself to a family, and yet you share his name.”

“Yes, I,” Vesper started, sighed, and stopped. “The Marshal I know doesn’t have a family either. But,” she looked over at Voti, “neither does the Lucis Caelum line exist anymore.”

The earth began to quake; at the same time, Voti groaned and gripped his head, dropping to his knees. Eleos softened her knees and braced herself, while Vesper took the two almost-stumbling steps to cross to Voti’s side. A large tree fell in the distance. Vesper knelt down and reached out to Voti as he whimpered softly. The quake stopped.

“Are you alright?” Her hand hovered above his shoulder.

He nodded slowly. “I’m fine, thank you.”

Beside her, Eleos frowned. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Voti said. He hesitated, and then continued, “I saw Titan.”

“The Astral?” Vesper asked.

Voti nodded. He tilted his head sideways until his temple pressed against her arm and he sighed. “I thought Titan was dead,” he said.

“I thought so as well,” Vesper murmured, nodding.

“Titan is supposed to be sleeping, isn’t he?”

She and Voti looked over at Eleos. She had straightened up and crossed her arms. They must have had twin expressions of confusion on their faces, because Eleos continued, “I thought all the Astrals except for Ramuh were either dead, sleeping, or have left Eos.”

Voti shook his head. “No? The King of Light forged covenants with the Astrals and left them weak, useless, and ripe for the killing.”

“‘Cuz that’s not a pretentious title at all,” Eleos scoffed. “The King of Light?”

“King Noctis Lucis Caelum, of course,” Vesper said.

Eleos’s jaw dropped, and then she shook her head, chuckling. “No way. I mean, _that_ scrawny kid, messing around with the Astrals? I had to help him with a tie not two days ago!”

The three of them looked between each other, and the gears in Vesper’s head began to click into place. Ulric-Leonis. Lucis Caelum. _Time_. A future the Crystal can thrive. “You’re from a different past,” Vesper breathed. “One where Cor Leonis had a daughter years before Noctis departed on his pilgrimage.”

Eleos put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Vesper. “I’m actually Nyx Ulric’s daughter,” she said, “but Cor formally adopted me when they got married. What do you mean, a different _past_? When the hell are you from, the future?”

“A different one than the one you would grow into, but in the simplest terms, yes,” Vesper said. She then looked at Voti and said, “Also, by the looks of you, may I infer that you are the son of Noctis Lucis Caelum and Lady Lunafreya?”

Voti slowly nodded. “How…?”

She smiled, the pieces fitting together in her own head. “Your face is Tenebraen, Your Highness. It’s not a difficult leap to make.” She tapped a finger to her lip, musing, “His Majesty and the Oracle never married, nor had children, in my time. But somehow, they managed it in yours; a different future, of sorts.”

“I wonder what year we’re in now,” Voti said. “If we’re in an adjacent time to Eleos, or to you, or another timeline altogether.”

Vesper was about to try and explain her hypothesis when Voti’s stomach made a loud grumble. His cheeks flushed and he turned away from her while Eleos snorted in laughter. Vesper smiled and stood up. “Well, then. We should make for Lestallum, perhaps find something to scavenge along the way?”

Eleos looked up at the setting sun and frowned. “I don’t know if we’ll make it. We may have to wait out the night.”

“Damn Messengers,” Voti grumbled. “They couldn’t just bring us right to Lestallum…”

A series of yips and barks caught their attention. Vesper looked out past the haven to the east and saw Pryna running alongside a _much_ younger Cor Leonis; while she could recognize that scowl anywhere, it did begin to answer Voti’s questions about _when_ the Messengers had brought them together. As they approached, Eleos reached up and waved frantically, whistling a particular sharp pattern with her other hand in her mouth. 

If Vesper had any doubt that Eleos had been lying before, seeing Cor’s face when he climbed up onto the haven and looked at her wiped it clean. Pryna walked around Eleos, and then sat down beside her to pant. Cor’s eyes softened. “I haven’t taught anyone that whistle,” he said, “and I haven’t heard it since—”

“Since your ma died,” Eleos finished for him, nodding. “I know. But the first time you brought me into the field, you wanted me to be able to call for you even if my phone died.” She sighed and turned to face Vesper, saying, “I guess this must be another one of those Times like yours and Voti’s, where Cor doesn’t have a family, huh?” 

Vesper stepped to Eleos’s side and gave her a brief hug. “It’ll be alright. We’ll fix this, and then get you home to your fathers.”

Cor crossed his arms and glanced among the three of them, and then landed his gaze down on Pryna. “The vision she gave me,” he started slowly, but then closed his eyes. “It was hard to believe. But just looking at the two of you,” he looked at both Vesper and Voti, his eyes sticking on the latter, “I can suspend my disbelief for now. What are your names?”

“Voti. What’s the date?” Voti asked.

“May 21st,” Cor said.

“I’m Vesper. The year?” Vesper asked.

“756.”

Both Voti and Vesper looked at each other and then the ground.

“So…” Eleos started, “I’m, uh, eight years behind all of you.”

“The refugees?” Voti asked, ignoring her.

Cor nodded. “We got as many out of Insomnia as we could. The first few waves should be arriving in Lestallum by sunset tomorrow.” 

Eleos cocked her head to the side and looked at Vesper. “Refugees?”

Vesper nodded. “May 16th, 756. Niflheim attacked Insomnia during a peace treaty signing. They claimed to have killed Prince Noctis, Lady Lunafreya, and King Regis Lucis Caelum, but only the king had truly died in the attack. The city was destroyed. It wasn’t until about ten years ago—my time, that is, ah… 774—that Insomnia was deemed rebuilt enough to be inhabited again.”

“The Insomnia I know was never rebuilt,” Voti said. “774, though,” he mused, continuing, “it’s interesting. You’re from farther in the future than I am, if 774 was ten years ago for you, Vesper.”

Eleos pulled out of the hug Vesper had still been holding her in, and said, “We should go to Lestallum. Meet up with the refugees and such. Maybe my family is there.”

Cor turned and looked at the sunset. His frown deepened. “If we leave now, we could make it to Lestallum just after dark. I see that she’s armed,” he nodded at Vesper, “but what about the two of you?”

Eleos nodded and lifted her hands. In a burst of small, bright crystals, two curved daggers appeared; the crystals faded before they hit the ground, and Eleos sighed and her spine relaxed. “I wasn’t sure that was going to work,” she muttered, and then dropped the daggers. In another burst of light, they were gone.

Voti also used the same crystalline lights to form a sword in his hand, one Vesper recognized from the memorial to the King of Light. This same sword was found pierced through King Noctis’s chest after he sacrificed himself and fulfilled the prophecy. He nodded to Eleos and Cor, a similar sentiment in his eyes to Eleos’s relief.

Cor turned to Vesper. “Save your ammunition for emergencies. You have something you can use up close?”

“I’m a trained Shield, Marshal. I _am_ my ‘up close’ weapon.”

He smirked, scoffed a quick laugh, and then formed a knife out of the same crystals Eleos and Voti had used. He handed it to her, saying, “Just in case.”

Voti crossed his arms. “You don’t have access to the Crystal? Even as a Shield?”

She shook her head as she attached the sheath to her belt. “In my time there is no way to commune with the Crystal. As I said, the Lucis Caelum and Nox Fleuret lines are no more.”

Voti then put his hands together in a ball in front of himself. Eleos made an excited squeak beside her, and Vesper turned to frown at her briefly. Eleos pointed back at Voti; he had pulled his hands apart and in the space between, a small sphere of blue energy appeared. The same blue as the Crystal.

“Take this and put it to your chest,” he said.

“What is it?”

He groaned, “Just do it, please.” A bead of sweat appeared on his brow and Vesper did as she was bid.

She was expecting it to hurt, but instead she dropped to her knees as a rush of euphoria swept through her body. Every nerve tingled and her head went light. Her palms and fingertips were warm and soft, relaxed, and her chest throbbed where she had pressed the sphere to it. The magic was gone in an instant. She bit back a moan when someone put their hand on her shoulder.

“Hold out your hand, reach, and pull. Think about a weapon you like working with the best.” Eleos’s timbre gentled as she instructed Vesper on what to do.

At first, Vesper remembered the knife Cor had just given her. Her father tended to prefer daggers, though he once showed her his proficiency with a spear. She had put many hours into her dagger training, knowing that everyone around her expected her to be just like her father, but when she reached and pulled, a large broadsword appeared in her hand—the kind that Gladio used and taught her to wield after she saw him in action once. Her grip faltered for only a moment, her wrist not as strong as she remembered, and then she felt a tingling sensation rise from her palms and ease the weight of the weapon.

She smiled. “Like that?”

Voti’s eyes softened. “Just like that.”

Eleos offered a hand to help her up and as she stood up, said, “Welcome to the Kingsglaive, Vesper.”

Cor cleared his throat on her other side. “She said she’s her time’s Shield, yes? That would make her Crownsguard.”

Eleos hugged Vesper’s arm, pulling her off-balance. “Finders, keepers! She’s mine and Voti’s, and that makes her a Glaive.”

“Your logic is not sound at all,” Vesper grumbled.

Voti turned and hopped off the haven. “We’re wasting daylight!”

Cor followed quickly. Eleos laughed. “Vesper, drop your sword back into the aether and let’s go.”

Vesper looked down at the broadsword in her hand, and then over at Eleos, who was starting to walk away. “How do I…?”

“Just drop it, seriously,” she said, smiling. “It’ll go away on its own. Trust me.”

“I barely know you.”

“You said it yourself, yeah? The Messengers brought us together for a reason. If you can’t trust me, trust them?”

Vesper frowned. “I don’t know them either…” She shook her head; dropped the sword and watched it shatter into thousands of tiny crystals. Eleos was holding out her hand at the edge of the haven. She went to her side and took the offered hand. Together, they jumped off and followed Voti and Cor into the darkening world.

* * *

Fighting with the blessing of the Crystal through the Lucis Caelum line was like breathing; easy, and necessary to continue living. They couldn’t make it fifty paces without the groan or hiss of a daemon appearing around them. They were grotesque, all evil faces and emaciated limbs, and between the four of them none left her sight alive. They would disappear into puffs of smoke when they were cut down, the stench of death brief but potent.

After the tenth or so daemon fell, during a break in the fighting, Vesper said, “I always thought the stories my father told me about the daemons were exaggerations. But these are a real threat in this time, aren’t they?”

The three others frowned at her. “Stories?” Eleos asked. “What, have you never been outside of Insomnia before?”

“That’s not it at all,” Vesper said. “There are no daemons in my time.”

“How?” Cor asked.

“The King of Light returned the Dawn. The prophecy worked.” Vesper shrugged. “I was born during the Long Night, but I was so young when the dawn returned that daemons were a bedtime story or a monster under my bed that Gladiolus would use to scare me into staying in bed at night.”

“So King Noctis died in your time, too,” Voti said. He was scuffing his feet on the ground, his hands in fists at his sides as they walked.

“He did,” she answered. “I never met him. My father left me in Lestallum with a friend before meeting with King Noctis to complete the prophecy.”

“Noctis is your… father? In your time?” Cor asked the other man.

Voti nodded. “I also… never met him. My mother didn’t know she was with child when she sent him to continue to Gralea with Prompto and Gladiolus. Then he was in the Crystal for ten years, and then when he was spat out he went straight to Ardyn.”

“What of the prophecy? Didn’t it—?”

“It didn’t work.” Voti seethed, crossed his arms and spoke at the ground. “All that time, all the lives that were lost so my father could become what Bahamut wanted him to be, and then after the Lucii killed him it was still dark. The sun never came back. My mother couldn’t speak with the Astrals anymore. They abandoned humanity.”

“I’m sorry,” Vesper said. She put a hand on his shoulder to draw him out of the ball of anger he’d built himself into. “But you’re here now, with us, so we can fix it.”

“Yeah,” Eleos said, coming up on Voti’s other side. She slipped her arm around his back and rocked side to side as they walked. “We’ll make sure that shit doesn’t happen again. No endless nights, not on my watch!”

“Look alive,” Cor said, readying his katana. A pack of daemons began to hiss and groan as they rose from the ground to their left. He put himself between the daemons and the other three while they pulled their weapons from the aether. And when the first daemon pounced, he stepped forward and sliced clean through it, dissolving the creature into mist and faded screeches.

The other daemons charged. Voti wielded his sword with one hand, swinging with his whole body and guiding the attack with his other hand. Eleos threw one kukri and warped to it, following through with the second and piercing a daemon in the back of its head.

Vesper, against her instinct to grab her rifle, reached and pulled the broadsword from the aether and bludgeoned two daemons at once as they charged her. They didn’t dissolve immediately from her attacks like they would from the others’ attacks, but the daemons were slow to stand and dizzy once they were on their feet. She brought the sword down on one, and then swiped it sideways into the other; the daemons were nothing more than puffs of smoke and mist.

The fighting continued through the woods, Cor and Voti staying close to Vesper and fighting anything that Eleos wasn’t able to warp around and destroy before it got to them. The daemon’s death screeches attracted more and more of the creatures. It wasn’t long before Cor pointed out the road and motioned for Voti and Vesper to get under the nearest streetlight.

It was a welcome reprieve. The daemons prowled along the edge of the light, hissing and snapping at them while they all caught their breath. Eleos threw a dagger at one and got it between the eyes. It fell down dead and dissipated and the dagger clanged on the ground twice before vanishing in a burst of tiny crystals. The other daemons that had surrounded it jumped back with yelps and hissing. Eleos recalled the dagger to her hand and twirled it around her wrist.

“Been a while since I’ve seen someone so comfortable with kukris,” Cor said.

“My dad taught it to me,” Eleos smiled. “Said that just because Galahd was physically gone doesn’t mean that our culture had to be.”

“I went to Galahd, once,” Vesper mused. “A mess of a jungle, but beautiful all the same.”

“You’re lucky,” Eleos said, pointing a dagger at her. She turned back to Cor, “How long has it been since you and Nyx last fought together anyway?”

Cor’s frown deepened. “I’ve never fought alongside Ulric.”

“How?”

He crossed his arms. “Nyx Ulric, right? He was Kingsglaive. Our jurisdiction didn’t really overlap.”

“You’re joking.”

Voti said, “I’m sure out of all of us, you can tell that he’s not.”

“How the hell have you never worked with your own husband?”

“Husband?” Cor muttered. 

Eleos continued like he hadn’t spoken. “You and Dad would go out on missions together all the time! It was like, a Friday night date for the two of you to be out on patrol together.”

The four of them were silent for a beat, and then Eleos’s voice cracked. “Where is my Dad? You said _was_.”

Cor was still. No one wanted to break the tension that settled over them.

Eleos threw a dagger and killed another daemon. “Where is he!”

“No one knows,” Cor finally said. “He didn’t make it out of Insomnia, as far as anyone can say. There’s a rumor that he survived wearing the Ring of the Lucii and awakened the Old Wall, but nothing’s concrete.”

“He’s dead,” Voti whispered.

Beside him, Vesper nodded. “I remember hearing the stories of a Glaive that wielded the power of the Lucii but come sunrise he was made into dust.”

Eleos trembled, then screamed and threw both kukris into the night. “No, no, no! Pryna! Come here and fix this!” She prowled the edge of the light, cutting each daemon that flitted there.

By the ninth daemon, Cor crossed to her side and took her shoulder. Eleos tried to turn out of the hold but was unsuccessful. ”Kid, pull yourself together,” he growled. “We’re still in daemon territory and have another mile or so to go before getting to Lestallum. You can break down then if you need to.”

Voti and Vesper prepared themselves to head out of the streetlight, and Eleos visibly slackened. She said nothing more, but let her kukris fall in a shower of crystals and followed Voti and Vesper as they crept out into the dark again.

At least Eleos’s tantrum had rid them of the daemons surrounding them.

They carefully made their way along the road. Vesper saw the light pollution from Lestallum before seeing the city proper. A fading yellow glow, a halo around the city—Vesper was almost awestruck, but she didn’t remember the city being so _bright_.

They could almost taste the safety of the city when the earth trembled again and Voti hunched over and pressed his palm to his head with a groan. Behind them, a pack of daemons were gaining ground. Vesper pushed Voti into Cor, who had come up beside him and asked about his condition.

She pulled her rifle over her head and stood her ground. “Keep going and get to the city,” she said.

Beside her, Eleos pulled her kukris out of the aether. “Go, Cor. We’ve got this.”

Cor helped Voti stand and began to push him along, but Voti dug his heels in and hissed with another quake. “Not without them,” he said.

“You’re in no condition to fight.”

“It’s just a headache—”

Vesper fired as the first of the daemons came in sight. Beside her, Eleos was also holding the line, throwing daggers at the farther ones and warping to any that got close. Vesper glanced back once to make sure that Cor was taking Voti away from the danger; satisfied that they were putting some distance between the daemons, she returned her full focus to the line in front of her.

A deep rumbling groan came from far out in the darkness. Vesper rolled her neck and shoulders and continued firing, but Eleos faltered beside her. “Vesper, fall back,” she yelled.

She fired on one more daemon before following Eleos as the other woman skipped by her. She swung the rifle over her head and they sprinted toward Lestallum. Beside her, Eleos huffed and kept up but also checked back over her shoulder and grit her teeth. “Run faster,” she said.

Vesper checked their pursuer.

She ran faster.

“What is that?”

“Run now, talk later. It’ll kill us if it catches up.”

Her lungs burned as she kept her breathing as even as possible. Each pound of her boots hitting the pavement echoed in her head. The daemon groaned and the earth shook again as it gained ground. Eleos and Vesper checked back over their shoulders at the same time and while Eleos turned back forward to keep running and pull ahead, Vesper did the math quickly.

It was going to catch up. Unless one of them stood and distracted it. She spun on her heel, pulled the broadsword from the aether, and held her ground as it continued to charge. Eleos could get to Lestallum at her current pace if Vesper could give her thirty seconds. She had to survive for thirty seconds, then find a way to pull back and retreat. Hopefully she’d do enough damage that the daemon wouldn’t be able to follow.

It came closer, an armored giant with a cleaver in hand, and Vesper began her count as it lifted its blade and then brought it down where she stood. She dodged, swung and hit the daemon on its wrist, and ducked under the follow-up attack it made with its fist. Realizing that she was particularly close, she let go of her sword and pulled a knife from the aether and tried to stick it in the daemon’s belly. The blade barely pierced the daemon’s armor and Vesper had to dodge again as the cleaving blade came down. The knife slipped from her hand and burst into fine blue crystals.

Twenty seconds. The daemon reached out and swept its hand across the road, and when Vesper ducked under it, it stopped above her and brought its fist down on her back. She hit her head on the road and felt the weight of the daemon pressing the breath from her body. A shifting crack in her core had her expending what little breath she had left as a scream; the rifle creaked and pushed into her spine. She pulled another knife from the aether and shoved it into the daemon’s hand. It pulled back its weight just enough that Vesper was able to press up and crawl out from under it. She was on her hands and knees when the daemon lifted its blade again. Vesper blocked the strike with her sword and grit her teeth against the force with which the daemon swung.

Five seconds. She needed to get on her feet. The daemon wasn’t letting up. Her broken ribs protested her effort.

Three seconds. The blade began to crack. Her arms were tired. Aster wasn’t here anyway. Queen Iris was right; the Messengers would find someone else to do their bidding. They already had, hadn’t they? They had brought Eleos and Voti along. It didn’t matter if Vesper—

A figure in blue appeared above her and stabbed the daemon in its face. It pulled back its weapon and swung wildly at its new attacker, and Vesper scrambled back once she let her sword go back into the aether. She watched in awe as Voti threw ghostly blue weapons, attacking the daemon in one place and then warping away somewhere else.

Hands on her elbows urged her to her feet. “Come on, kid,” Cor grunted beside her, and she stood but couldn’t take a deep breath. Her chest wouldn’t expand enough. She hissed in pain at Cor’s insistent pulling, but let him help her limp away. The sounds of the battle faded the farther they got until Vesper shook her head. “Stop,” she mumbled.

Another figure in blue appeared beside her and took her other elbow. Eleos shook off a crystal and pulled Vesper’s arm over her shoulder. “I’ve got her,” she said to Cor, ignoring Vesper’s cry as she tried to reduce the stretch in her side. “Voti said he’ll catch up.”

“Those were Royal Arms,” Cor said. He released his hold on Vesper, but kept the forward momentum towards Lestallum. “Can’t deny he’s royal now,” he muttered.

“Go back for him,” Vesper groaned.

“Not a chance,” Eleos said. “He’s got magic and can take care of himself. You, however, are a _dumbass_ and need medical attention.”

Vesper stiffened. “No,” she bit and ducked out from under Eleos’s hold. The world spun with her motion, and Cor put a hand on her back to steady her. She shook that off, too; she put an arm around her waist where the pain was worst. “Voti was chosen by the Messengers,” she said. 

“So were you,” Eleos seethed. “So was I!”

Vesper wouldn’t be swayed. “Go. Back. For. Him.”

Blue crystals appeared in front of her, and Voti’s face was drawn in a tight frown. He took her other hand and pulled her forward, continuing their jog to Lestallum. He didn’t look back at her, but she was relieved to see he was somehow unharmed.

“Did you kill it?” Eleos asked.

“No, but you guys got far enough away that I could warp and meet up with you without it following.”

“You are one crazy bastard,” she said.

“Not as crazy as some,” he snapped.

“I took a calculated risk,” Vesper groaned. Her back throbbed. She would need to check over her rifle as soon as they were in the city. The creaking can’t have been a good sound.

“I _told_ you to fall back!” Eleos said.

“It was gaining on us. We weren’t going to make it back to Cor and Voti before it caught up. Better one of us than neither, yes?”

“And who said it had to be you?”

“Drop it,” Cor said. Vesper let go of Voti’s hand and slowed to a walk. She could barely breathe as it was; everyone flanked her and slowed to her pace. Beside her, Cor sighed and then continued, “Eleos, Vesper did exactly what her training dictated she should have done. That doesn’t mean that it was the best decision,” he added as Vesper looked over at him, “but as Shield, she gave extra time for the royal of your group to get out of danger, and assured that he had someone else to keep him safe in her absence.”

“I hate the Lucian concept of the Shield,” Eleos muttered.

“You and me both,” Voti said. He turned around and stopped their progression under another streetlight. Lestallum was in sight. He put his hands on Vesper’s shoulders and said, “My Shield has already given their life for me. I don’t need more blood on my hands, please. Don’t,” he shut his eyes and turned his head to the side. Vesper reached up and put one hand on top of his. “I couldn’t bear it again,” he whispered, and then he pulled away from her to continue the walk to Lestallum.

Cor followed him.

Eleos stayed by her side. The two of them let Cor and Voti walk into the next streetlight before catching each other’s eye. She let out a low whistle. “He’s got some issues to work through.”

“Indeed,” Vesper muttered. She took a few more steps forward and then her back decided it was done supporting her weight. She barely had time to reach out for Eleos’s shoulder before her eyes rolled back and she passed out to the sound of the other girl shouting for Cor.

* * *

Vesper woke up on a bench as the first rays of sunshine were cresting over the mountains in the distance. Her head was propped up on Voti’s thigh and his hand in her hair. In front of them, Eleos stood with her hands on a railing and her back to them. Vesper’s own jacket lay over her like a blanket, and under her upper back was another balled up bit of clothing—a glance up at Voti showed strong, bare arms; she hadn’t known Voti for long, but she wasn’t surprised in the least that he gave her his coat to keep her propped up and comfortable.

Her chest and back ached something fierce, though. She reached up and touched her ribs gently, finding that they’d been wrapped at some point while she’d been out.

“You’ll need to take deep breaths every hour,” Voti said. “To prevent pneumonia.”

Vesper looked up at him. “I’m aware. This isn’t the first time I’ve broken a rib.”

“Do you simply have no sense of self-preservation, or is this part of Shield training?”

She closed her eyes against the rising sun. “Can’t it be a little of both?”

He pulled his hand through her hair, catching his fingers in a knot. As he carefully worked it free, he said, “My Shield used to say the same thing. I hated it then, and it's still a terrible answer. Your life is not worth less because of who you’ve dedicated it to.” He tied her hair back into its messy bun for her and then helped her sit up.

Eleos had turned around and was leaned back against the railing,the sunlight giving her skin an ethereal glow. Her smirk, however, was less godly. “Are you done being a dumbass, then?”

Vesper breathed a laugh. She didn’t trust her ribs to take more than that. “If by ‘dumbass’ you mean ‘taking calculated risks to ensure the safety of the team’, I’m afraid you’ll have to be prepared for more of that in the future.”

“Oh, good,” Eleos said. “So all we need to do is get the Messengers to bring us further into the past and we’ll be fine.”

The three of them shared a chuckle.

Vesper looked about for her rifle. “Where’s my—?”

“Cor took it,” Eleos said. “The gun, right? It was broken in a few places.”

“It’s important,” Vesper said. “I need it back.”

“He gave it to some Crownsguard going out to Leide,” Voti said. “He mentioned that he was going to have it repaired for you.”

“In the meantime, you have access to the aether,” Eleos said. “So at least you’re armed, yeah?”

“I suppose…”

Beside them, a bark quelled the conversation. Umbra sat, tail wagging against the ground and panting. He lifted a paw into the air and waved at them a few times. He stepped closer to Vesper and Voti. Eleos pushed away from the railing to kneel beside him.

“I guess you two have also had to communicate with Umbra like this?” Voti asked.

Vesper nodded.

“Not this one, the white one. Pryna. But yeah,” Eleos said, giving him a scratch behind the ear. Umbra turned his head into the scratch and panted happily.

Umbra then lifted his paw to wave at them again, and Eleos stopped petting him. The three of them touched Umbra’s paw and Vesper watched the world change from the Duscaen skyline to a hot and steaming canyon. There, a blonde woman in a white gown wielded a trident and spoke to the Astral of earth, Titan. She begged the Astral to forge the covenant with Noctis and when that didn’t work, she instead demanded that he give Noctis a chance to prove himself. The Astral agreed to put forth a trial and then the scene changed.

Four men stood before Titan as airships and artillery fired upon the Astral. They tried to defend Titan, but it was no use, as Titan fought back against the machines with no regard to whether his attacks would harm the men. They all fought each other; the men, the machines, and the god. And when the god eventually fell, it fell to the machines and gave its power to one of the men.

That’s when the chill began. A weakening; a lost grip; her muscles now beginning to ache and strain. This was fine, she would adapt. But if any other Astral stops working to hold the world together… Men were not made to hold the power of the Astrals. She would need to find others to help her.

Help her. Stop the Rite. Preserve Titan.

Vesper opened her eyes, back in Lestallum. Umbra was gone, and Voti was staring at her. Eleos was still in the vision. Their hands hung in the air, Voti’s on hers and Eleos’s on Voti’s. Vesper put her hands on her lap and waited for Eleos to come out.

“What’re you three doing?”

Vesper and Voti turned to face Cor as he approached, a drink tray in one hand and a paper bag in the other. The bitter aroma of hot coffee mixed with the sharp sweet tang of fresh baked goods. She realized then just how hungry she was.

“Umbra was here,” Voti said. “He had a vision for us.”

Cor nodded at Eleos. “What’s up with her?”

“She’s still in it,” Voti said.

“No, not that. She’s crying.”

Both Vesper and Voti turned back to see that, yes, Eleos had tears seeping out of her closed eyes. Voti immediately turned his hand over and held hers, and Vesper reached out and put her hand on her shoulder. “It wasn’t that bad a vision, was it?” she asked.

He shook his head. “The worst part was feeling the Crystal’s pain when Titan—”

Eleos sobbed and opened her eyes. “Umbra! Get back here!” she cried.

Vesper tightened her hold on Eleos’s shoulder. “What did you see?”

Eleos trembled. “It can’t happen. It won’t. I won’t let it,” she hiccupped.

Cor came and sat beside Vesper on the bench, and handed out paper cups of coffee to Voti and her, and then offered one to Eleos. “Drink, and then talk,” he said.

She held the coffee in her hands and sat back on her heels. Vesper let go of her shoulder as she leaned back gingerly. She stuck her foot out to brush against Eleos’s knee, keeping some kind of contact while Eleos was so distraught. The four of them sipped their drinks in the brisk morning air.

“My dad,” she started, then sniffled. “There’s no future where he lives. Umbra showed me.” Eleos wiped at her eyes. “I can’t accept that. I can’t let him die, not when the Crystal sent me into the future to help the good of all. He’s part of that ‘all’ isn’t he?”

Voti nodded. “But if the Messengers say it’s so, what’s to be done?”

“I’m going to force that damn dog to bring me back far enough that I can save my dad.”

“There isn’t enough,” Voti groaned and pulled his hand back to run it through his hair. “The Crystal only has so much energy left, and the Messengers run on that energy. You’re going to take it for yourself so you can save one man? That’s so selfish.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Eleos growled. “I refuse to help the Crystal unless she is gonna help me.”

“Vesper talk some sense into her,” Voti sighed.

Vesper took a deep drink of her coffee and then said, “I share her sentiment.”

“You _what?_ ”

“I was told to help make a better future. It seems to me that giving Eleos her dad would constitute such a future, don’t you agree?” Voti looked like he was going to say something else, but Vesper continued, stopping him before he started. “Also, it’s been less than a week since the fall of Insomnia,” she said, pointing to a newspaper stand to their right. In tall, bold letters, the headlines declared the imminent arrival of refugees into Lestallum and the expected strain on the electrical grid. 

She continued, “Compared to the energy spent to bring the three of us together—apart by time and dimension—going back a week or so can’t be too difficult.”

Eleos jumped up and grinned. “Yeah, you get it.”

“But the Rite,” Voti growled, standing up. “Your dad is already dead. Mine needs saving _now_.”

Eleos put her coffee on the ground, rolled her shoulders, and shifted her weight; but then Cor stood and put himself sideways between her and Voti. She was still glaring at Voti, still tense, but took Cor’s silent order and stepped back. “I’m going to force the Messengers to bring me back,” she said. “It’s not like they can’t then put us right back here after I make sure my dad lives.”

Voti huffed. “I’m going to the Disc. Like we’re supposed to. To stop the Rite and help fix the Crystal.” To Cor, he said, “Has Noctis and his men left for the Disc?”

“Not sure,” Cor said. “I’m not even sure they were planning on it.”

“They won’t,” Vesper said from the bench. Cor frowned at her, and she continued, “Plan on it, that is. They’ll be found by the Accursed and brought there. I don’t remember the exact date, though.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Voti said. “Titan hasn’t made the covenant. The quakes are still happening. We’re in the right window of time and need to move now or the Messengers will have brought us here for nothing. Cor,” he continued, “can you get us to the Disc?”

He nodded. “I’ll get you there, kid.”

“Good. Vesper, let’s go.”

“No.”

Voti glowered. “What do you mean, _no_?”

“I’m going with Eleos to help her save her father.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“And yet you have it anyway,” Vesper said, finishing the last of her drink. “Voti, Umbra may have shown Eleos that there is no future in which Nyx Ulric survives the fall of Insomnia, but there’s also no way the Messengers can account for our presence either. That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it? Because they need help and they don’t know what’s going to happen if they don’t get it.”

The other three were silent for a beat, and then Cor said, “You may have a point, but how will you deal with the consequences of the Rite succeeding if your help is what could have helped Voti stop it?”

Vesper stood up shoulder-to-shoulder with Eleos. “It’s just one Astral. The Crystal can hold it together for one.”

“You felt her pain, didn’t you,” Voti grit. “That’s the whole reason we’re here! The Crystal _can’t_ take it!”

“Like I said, we’ll just have Umbra or Pryna or whoever put us back right here in time when we’re done. You’ll barely notice we left,” Eleos said.

Voti opened his mouth to argue some more, but Cor put his hand up. “Have Umbra bring you to just outside the Disc,” he said, “four or five hours from now. Then the three of you can stop the Rite together.”

Vesper stood up and stuck out her hand. “Agreed?”

Eleos also put her hand forth and stared at Voti. “Fair to me.”

Voti shook his head and groaned. “You two are going to be the reason the Messenger’s plan falls apart.” And yet, he still took their hands, one at a time, and shook on it; first Eleos, then Vesper. He held onto Vesper’s hand just a little longer than he should have, and said, “Just don’t die. Somehow I don’t think the Messengers can work around that one.”

She took her hand back and nodded. “You neither.”

“I’m not the one going into a war zone.”

“No, but you’ve got good chances of meeting up with the Accursed,” Vesper said. “Be careful.”

“C’mon kid,” Cor said. “Let’s get you to the Disc.” To Vesper, he said, “Before I forget, check in with Cid at Hammerhead in a week or so. Your rifle should be fixed up by then.”

Vesper nodded. “Thank you.”

Eleos and Vesper waved to them, and watched them drive away.

“Is the Disc really four hours away?” Eleos asked.

“I don’t think so,” Vesper said. She turned around and stepped to the railing, looking out over the region. The Meteor glowed in the distance, surrounded by the rocky steppes of the Disc and slowly melting into deep greenery. “But maybe Cor will have Voti wait for us.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Voti,” Eleos snorted.

“You don’t know him either,” Vesper said. “Sure he was angry, but do you really think he’d just go off on his own?”

“He’s not on his own, though. He’s got Cor.”

“But—”

“Pryna!!!” Eleos cupped her hands and yelled. Vesper flinched, and a few other early risers that were on the lookout turned to grumble and frown at them.

Vesper was about to ask her to keep her voice down, that the Messengers were divine and could hear even if she whispered, but a soft whine caught their attention. Down the way, on a different part of the lookout, Pryna sat and watched the Disc, her ears flat and her tail tucked against her flank.

Both girls approached and pet the dog once on the head. Pryna turned her nose into Vesper’s wrist and she received a brief vision—a blonde woman pacing slowly before an open stone casket, her hands clasped in front of her, and in a new scene, four men riding in a black car, following a red one. Vesper received the message clearly.

The Rite was ready to begin. The King just needed to get into position, and the Accursed was placing him where he needed to be.

“Pryna, please let me try,” Eleos said, kneeling before the Messenger so they were face-to-face. “I have to save him. You can bring us back in time, can’t you? I mean, you brought me forward, and Voti and Vesper back. A few days, please. Bring us far enough back that we can save my dad from whatever kills him and then you can bring us right to the Disc, yeah?”

Pryna pushed her snout into Eleos’s chest, and Vesper watched as Eleos’s eyes went glassy and unseeing and her lips parted slightly. She was receiving a vision, Vesper realized, so she waited until it was over and Eleos came back to herself, but when she did it was with a scowl.

“I can do this. You wouldn’t have brought us together if we couldn’t save people. And I’ll have Vesper with me.”

Pryna cocked her head up and looked up at Vesper. She nodded, saying, “Let us prove we can save one person and then we’ll save them all.” The dog panted and smiled, and then turned back to Eleos and pawed at her knees.

“Yes!” Eleos hissed. “Vesper, c’mon! You’re gonna meet my dad!”

She stepped around Pryna and knelt carefully beside Eleos. Pryna put her paw on their hands and the world, once again, melted away. 


	3. Reconnaissance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vesper and Eleos go into the past. 
> 
> Some things are different and some things stay the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one and the next chapter are the only ones I didn't have prewritten. So of course Covid-19 strikes just as I'm getting into a writing groove. It went through my house soon after our area went under stay at home orders (thankfully, we didn't lose anyone in my family) and I just... never got back into a writing habit. It became exhausting to find time to write between my spouse working from home and my toddler learning how to have truly epic meltdowns. I'm sorry I left this for so long but as my Betas can attest, I never really stopped thinking about it!
> 
> Next chapter may be a little slow to come because, yeah, I still gotta write it, but then after that it *should* be smoother updates.
> 
> A sincere thanks to Lyco and Alex, without whom this chapter would neither make any sense, nor have a title.

The dry, hot air of Leide whipped sand up in a flurry outside of the makeshift shelter Pryna brought them to. Vesper cried out as the world slid into focus. Her ribs creaked, and she bowed over and hugged her waist. Eleos was worrying over her in an instant, helping her straighten her back and chest against the wrappings.

“I had a feeling I should have left you with Voti,” Eleos said. “No way you can fight with broken ribs!”

Vesper waved her off. “I’ll be fine,” she rasped. A glance around showed the lack of their Messenger. Vesper helped herself to Eleos’ shoulders and stood up, gently prodding at her ribs and hissing at the pain.

“You are _not_ fine—”

“Not the time,” Vesper said, motioning her hand in a _down_ sign. She carefully bent her knees to lower herself behind the shelter while Eleos ducked around her, kukris ready. On the road nearby, a yellow van pulled up and idled while the back doors opened and a motorcycle was eased out. While one figure checked it over, another was rummaging around through the van. “Speedy Chocobo Cleaning Service?“ Vesper read on the van.

“What’s a cleaning service doing in the desert?” Eleos asked.

“And why do they have a motorcycle in the back?”

They caught each other’s eye and Eleos shook her head. “I don’t like this. Didn’t you and Voti say that my dad died in an attack on Insomnia? Why did Pryna bring us into Leide?”

Voices carried across the road, enough that it silenced the two of them; Vesper couldn’t make out what they were saying. One of the figures came into sight and straddled the motorcycle, and beside her Eleos gasped.

“Aunt Crowe.”

“Who?”

“Crowe Altius, a Glaive. She’s sort of an older-sister-slash-aunt figure to me.” Eleos smiled. “It sort of explains the van. This is a drop-off point for some super secret mission for the Glaive, I’ll bet! I wonder if I could—”

“Eleos,” Vesper pulled on Eleos’s wrist to settle the other woman. “We’re here to ultimately save your father, not join your aunt on a mission. We need to get to Insomnia.”

The yellow van pulled away, and Crowe lifted a hand in good-bye. She then turned her helmet over in her hands before lifting it. Eleos sighed.

“You’re right. I guess. We’re not even sure _when_ Pryna really brought us anyway, so…” Eleos narrowed her eyes, crept towards the road, and waved Vesper forward. “Why is she hesitating?”

The two of them followed Crowe’s gaze down the road to where a gray van was turning around a corner and towards her, rolling in slowly with its hazard lights flashing. A metallic glare shone across the front window as the van passed under the sun. “They have a gun,” Vesper said, pushing Eleos into the road.

Eleos threw a kukri and warped to the other side of the road, and then threw her other kukri into the side door of the van as it opened. As she crossed the road after Eleos, Vesper kept one hand pressed to her side and with the other she pulled a handgun from the aether. The van rocked as Eleos fought whoever was inside. Crowe stood up from the motorcycle and held a flame in her hands, poised to fire at the figure in the front seat of the van.

Vesper drew herself up, her other hand coming up to stabilize the gun, and took aim at the driver. Behind him, Eleos had finished with the fight in the back and had reached around to press one of her blades into his neck. Her eyes were hardened and her hand steady. Vesper caught eyes with Eleos, and then through the windows, Crowe; the older Glaive still had her magic burning above her palms as she approached the driver’s door.

She put out one palm’s fire, opened the door, and sneered, “Step on out, Luche, and be ready to explain yourself.” The blade at his neck shook in Eleos’s hand, once, before biting harder into his skin and forcing a thin line of blood to rise.

Hands up in surrender, the driver snarled but did as commanded. Once he was out of the van, Vesper stepped around the front of the vehicle and waited for Eleos to climb out. The man—Luche—was blond, average height, and wore typical Insomnian clothes: black on black on black. He clearly did not expect to stay in the desert for very long. Vesper kept her gun level and ready as Eleos stood by Crowe on the other side.

“Thanks, girls,” Crowe said. “We’ll get to who you are in a minute. Right now this—” she stepped forward and stomped on Luche’s foot, then drove her knee up between his legs, “ _asshole_ has some explaining to do.”

Luche grunted and covered himself as he bent over. He snarled up at Crowe and said, “I have nothing to explain to you, _traitor_.”

“Traitor?” Eleos exclaimed. “You and your guys were trying to kill her!”

“That’s what happens to Glaives that side with the King over their own homes,” he hissed.

“I don’t support the treaty,” Crowe said, “I just happen to know that we live in a monarchy and that’s not going to change overnight.”

“Maybe it should!” Luche’s lips curled as he lunged forward with his remark, but was intercepted by Eleos throwing one of her kukris into the sand at his feet menacingly. He turned to Eleos, sneered, and continued, “It’s not like the monarchy would be much use if Regis signs the treaty.” He faced Crowe again, “A king with no land to rule isn’t much of a king at all.”

“Eleos,” Vesper dragged the attention of her partner away from the man before them. Once she saw that she had it, she continued, “The Kingsglaive was rife with those that opposed the peace treaty Niflheim offered, as it gave all lands outside of Insomnia to Niflheim. It was the Glaive’s lack of response to the attack that likely caused Insomnia’s ultimate fall.”

“You’re talking about this like it’s already happened,” Crowe said before Eleos could respond. “But there was no sign of an incoming attack before I left.”

“No, I’m sure there wasn’t,” Vesper said.

“What’s the date?” Eleos asked.

“May 14th,” Crowe said. “Why are you asking?”

“We’re early, then. The treaty signing is in two days,” Vesper said. “It’s likely that this one,” she nodded at Luche, “was sent to kill you so as to have one less glaive fighting against whomever is leading the traitorous faction.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said. “I told him I’d kill you beforehand so you’d be out of the way, but I—” He snarled, turned his face to the side and down. “I didn’t want you to die in the final attack. The thought of an MT slaying you heartlessly—or worse, some other Glaive torturing you or leaving you to bleed out slowly—no, better you die quickly and painlessly.”

Crowe shook her palm free of the flame and then shoved him backwards. “So what, you think being the one to do the job was the way to _save me_?”

He caught himself on the sandy floor, and then righted himself and turned back to face them on his knees. “It was a necessary sacrifice! For hearth and home,” he tsked. “I wasn’t even—”

“Who’s behind it?” Crowe asked. “A fringe group? Someone in Niflheim, wanting some world order? Accordo? They’ve been under Niflheim’s political control for so long without a sign of a real treaty. How much of the Glaive is corrupt?”

It was right on the edge of Vesper’s memory. She could even picture the classroom she sat in when she learned about the former Kingsglaive’s involvement in Insomnia’s fall. The old Glaive, Libertus Ostium, was forthcoming with details of his own involvement in the fall, his own short-comings; but the name of the Lucian traitor that had managed the glaives… Vesper couldn’t remember.

Frustrated, she put her gun away into the aether, and then folded her arms around herself as she tried to think.

“Glauca,” Luche muttered.

“Right,” Crowe laughed. “Because a Niflheim general’s just here, in Insomnia, giving out orders.”

“No, wait,” Eleos spoke up. Vesper looked over at her, the other woman’s brow furrowed and her dark hair fraying from the heat of the desert. “Glauca? Cor was telling me about this a little while ago—in my time, Vesper,” she said. “The Crown had intelligence, even eight years ago, that General Glauca was reported to have been sent to Lucis.” Eleos shrugged. “It’s possible that my information is wrong, because I’m clearly from some one-off timeline where my dad was able to have a kid, but if it’s true…?”

“The name sounds familiar to me as well,” Vesper nodded. “Though I can’t help but remember that there’s more to it.”

Luche shook his head. “What crazy house did you get these two out of, Crowe?”

“The second question, Luche. How much of the Glaive is corrupt?”

Luche knelt still and quiet. His fists clenched tight into his thighs and he stared beyond Crowe and Eleos. _He’s given too much already,_ Vesper thought, _he won’t give us anything else._ Crowe and Eleos both clearly thought differently. Crowe glowered and lit her palms with fire magic again as the silence grew; Eleos didn’t wait long before punching Luche across the face and following through with a kukri pressed to his throat.

_How much of the Glaive was corrupt…_

“You're alive because you have information,” Eleos snarled. “If you won't tell us, we could just _—_ ”

_...Just about all of it._

“Drautos!” Vesper snapped her fingers. The other three turned to her and she grinned sheepishly, continuing, “Titus Drautos, the Kingsglaive Captain. He's Glauca.”

Eleos shook her head and stepped away from Luche. “No way. Drautos is a hardass, but he's cool with the King. He wouldn't put Insomnia in the war path.” She turned to Luche and asked, “Would he?”

“Drautos is the one who sent me out on this mission,” Crowe said. “Said it was classified, and needed to be done solo.”

“If the captain wanted to be rid of all the glaives that opposed him, why not send them all?” Vesper mused. “Eliminate them all in one go.”

“Because this was a real mission, orders from King Regis,“ Crowe continued. “One Glaive to infiltrate Tenebrae, collect Lady Lunafreya, and see her safely to Altissia for her wedding to Prince Noctis. A mission I won’t be able to complete, now; not with this level of setback.”

Luche had the audacity to laugh. “Crowe. You’re going to believe these two crazies? They’re talking of things that haven’t happened like they’re in the past, dressed in Glaive uniforms and neither of us recognize them—”

“At least they didn’t try to kill me yet today,” Crowe seethed.

Luche shook his head. “It wasn’t personal. For hearth and home.”

“You had a gun pointed at my head! If this girl—Eleos, was it?—wasn’t already in the van and had a knife to your throat, would you have pulled the trigger?”

Luche’s silence was damning enough.

“Felt pretty personal on my end,” Crowe scoffed. She kicked sand into Luche’s lap; he flinched and then brushed his hands over his eyes. Overhead, crows began to circle. The two dead men Eleos had left in the van started to stink, the first drops of blood falling out of the open side door into the sand. Crowe glanced at both Eleos and Vesper and said, “I’m gonna take the shitstain just over there and have a private talk with him. Could you two do something with the two dead ones?”

Vesper nodded. Eleos hesitated, “You sure you don’t want backup?”

Crowe laughed. “Luche can only take me if he has surprise on his side and he knows it. I’ll be fine. We’ll stay in warping distance.” She took him by the elbow and picked him up, and together they walked onto the other side of the road.

Vesper grabbed one body under its arms and dragged it out of the van. Eleos hadn’t moved from her spot in front of the van, where she could see across the road and keep an eye on Crowe. Vesper sighed, but brought the body over to Eleos and handed it off. “So you don’t have to lose sight of her,” Vesper muttered. Eleos nodded and dragged it over in the direction that Vesper had shooed her, parallel to the road to a sand dune fifty paces away.

It wasn’t like Crowe was helpless; she was a _Glaive_. Eleos didn’t need to protect her. This thing with Luche was clearly a one-off event, and she didn’t think she needed to protect herself because they were allies. Vesper dragged the other body out of the van into the sand and then onto the pavement. Eleos didn’t return to her spot in front of the van, but helped her bring the second body to the sand dune.

“Do you think Crowe’s gonna kill Luche?” Eleos asked.

“If she’s smart, she will,” Vesper said. They heaved the body over the edge and watched it tumble down to lay with the other.

“They were a thing, in my life.”

“Oh.” And what was she supposed to say to that? “Well, then maybe she won’t. It’s hard to kill someone you have feelings for, I suppose.”

“Luche didn’t seem to have a problem.”

“He had something higher to believe in,” Vesper said.

Eleos turned and frowned at her. “What?”

“I mean, as Shield. Hypothetical situation, right? If my dad tried to attack my charge, even though I do love my dad, I’d have to kill him.”

“But that would never happen. This _did_.”

“I’m aware? I’m just saying—”

“You don’t _kill_ people you love, not for ideals or _something higher_. What is wrong with you? You would kill your father if he threatened your _prince_?”

“Yes.” Vesper closed her eyes and took a breath. Her hypothetical proposition wasn’t helping Eleos understand, but with a heavy silence between them Vesper was able to stop and think. The situations also weren’t... quite equivalent. “That was a bad example, I see.”

“You think???”

“No, Eleos. I…”

“Luche and Crowe were together for two years in my time,” Eleos sniffed, rubbed her wrist across her nose. “I can’t just ignore that. It hurts so much to see them literally at each other’s throats.”

Vesper turned and looked back at Crowe and Luche, still talking, still being civil with each other; somehow.

“I misspoke,” she said. “It wasn’t the same situation. But my point still stands.” She clenched her hands into tight fists and continued, “Say my prince had ordered my father’s death. I would trust that he had a reason why someone so dear to me had to be eliminated. And then I would volunteer to be the one to do it; so I’d never live the rest of my life wondering how it happened.”

“You’re sick.”

“Maybe,” Vesper nodded. “But I also trust my prince to know that he would never order my father’s death. Imagine what Luche’s going through; that the man he put so much trust in would order the death of someone he holds such feelings for.”

“He doesn’t seem torn up to me.”

Vesper started walking back to the van, Eleos a few steps behind her. “He’s good at holding himself together, then.”

As they got closer to the two Glaives, Vesper caught the end of their conversation with Luche saying, “I'll tell Drautos that the deed is done, then be your eyes and ears on the inside.”

“Will he want proof of my death?” Crowe asked. “I’m not about to part with a hand or anything else to sell this.”

Luche shook his head. “I'm close to him. He trusts me, I think. I'll tell him you fought back and that's why the other two are dead—it's not far from the truth.”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Eleos asked, rushing into the conversation.

“Your friend is right,” Crowe said. “Niflheim is planning on ending the war during the treaty signing—by invading and destroying Insomnia from the inside. Luche’s gonna help us try to stop it.” Her expression darkened and her shoulders squared before she continued, “That is, assuming the two of you are against Niflheim.”

“We’re Lucian,” Vesper hurried to assure her.

“The whole reason we’re here is to save my dad from dying in the coming invasion so, y’know,” Eleos reasoned, “definitely against the Niffs.”

Crowe narrowed her eyes and looked between the two of them, and then asked, “You know your dad is going to die in a surprise invasion, which you also know about—but you maintain that you’re not Niflheim. Who and what are you two?”

Vesper and Eleos caught each other's eyes, and then Vesper answered, “We're champions of the Messengers, picked out of our respective time and dimension to find a way to heal the Crystal. I'm from approximately thirty years in the future, and Eleos is from about eight years in the past.”

The winds of the plateau kicked up dust around their feet. Luche and Crowe looked at the two of them in disbelief. “I'd call you a dirty liar,” Crowe started slowly, “but I don't think you can just make up something like that.”

“Saving your dad is going to help heal the Crystal?” Luche said skeptically. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that the Crystal isn’t infinite,” Eleos said. “And no, we’re not sure that it’ll help, but I’m not going to just create a supposedly ‘perfect timeline’ and not have it include my dad.”

“The Messenger brought us here for a reason,” Vesper continued, “so it must be important that both of you play different roles in the coming days.”

Crowe continued to look between them a few times before shrugging and saying, “Okay.” She then slipped into the driver’s seat of the van and turned the key.

Luche tripped over himself to follow, and leaned on the open window to say, “You're going to just accept that they're time travelers.”

“And you're going to fight it?”

“Crowe—”

“I could burn you and leave you here for dead,” she deadpanned. “I thought we had something, Luche. I’d still like to see if it could go somewhere. But this? You’d better believe you’ve got to make me believe it’s worth it, after this.”

“I will, but—”

Crowe stopped him with a hand. “I’ve gotta go with my gut now, and not my heart. I’m trusting them. I’ve got a good feeling.”

Vesper elbowed Eleos’s side. “Not that I’m complaining,” she muttered, “but when did we ask for Crowe’s trust?”

“Shh. This can only be a good thing, okay?”

She took Eleos’s hand as the other tried to walk towards the vehicles. “Can we really trust Luche? He was going to kill her, and _we_ don’t know what he said to convince Crowe he won’t try again.”

Eleos shrugged. “She’s trusting us; I’m trusting Crowe. If she wants to believe he won’t triple-cross us or whatever, then I’ll believe her.” Eleos squeezed her hand and gave her an easy smile. “If Luche tries anything, though, I won’t let it bite _us_ in the ass, okay?”

Vesper looked at their joined hands, then back up at Eleos’s smile. She nodded.

“Girls! C’mon, get in the car or I’ll leave you both!”

Eleos pulled Vesper along by her hand to the van. She offered the front seat to Vesper, which she accepted, but first…

“Just one thing, alright?” Vesper asked, then went around the van to where Luche was settling into the motorcycle. Careful of her ribs, Vesper pulled a small knife from the aether and pushed it under his chin.

Both Crowe and Eleos could see this happening from the van and both shouted at her to stop, but she held steady. Luche stilled and drew his eyes up her arm to her face. “I—”

“You don’t live in my time,” Vesper began. His jaw snapped closed. “You were not even a footnote in my history lessons. I have someone I need to find and get back to, and if you cross us and it prevents me from seeing him again, I swear upon all the gods that I will hunt you to the end of the Crystal and make you long for the easy death of a knife to your throat.”

“Not if I kill you first,” he said. His back straightened and he leaned into her blade enough to form a line of blood along the edge as it bit into his skin.

Vesper sneered. “I’d like to see you try. You’re the one with nothing to live for.” They stared each other down for a moment, waiting for the other to cow. When the slip of blood trickled down the blade and down Luche’s neck, he finally broke eye contact and swallowed hard. She took three steps back and dropped the knife back into the aether, then turned to get into the van.

“You wanna—”

“No, Eleos, I don’t want to talk about it,” Vesper said, buckling her seatbelt and situating it comfortably around her ribs. “Let’s get to Insomnia. We have plans to make.”

Crowe turned the van around and drove away. The farther away they got from Luche’s position, the more they all relaxed. And once Luche and the motorcycle were out of sight, Crowe asked the big question.

“So, who’s your dad, kid?”

Eleos leaned up between the two front seats, resting her arms around both of them, and grinned. “Which one?”

Crowe laughed. “The one that we gotta keep from dying.”

“That would be Nyx Ulric,” Vesper answered.

Crowe’s jaw dropped, and she looked over her shoulder at Eleos, then up at the rearview mirror. “Nyx doesn’t have a kid,” she said.

“Time traveller,” Eleos shrugged.

“Time _and_ dimension,” Vesper said. “Things change and Time changes.”

“This is just a garbage dimension where my family doesn’t exist… again,” Eleos sighed.

“Oh gods,” Crowe groaned. “I’m going to be bringing Nyx his teenage daughter from another dimension to help with an invasion that we may or may not be able to stop.”

“I’m twenty,” Eleos corrected her.

Crowe threw her head down against the wheel and groaned again, louder.

* * *

Crowe ducked her head out of the colvert, looking in all directions, before giving Vesper and Eleos a wave of her hand to follow her out into the waterway. The day-long trek through the storm sewers underneath Insomnia hadn’t been pleasant by any means, and Vesper was relieved to have sunlight on her face, however weak and broken by the shadows above them.

The older Glaive led the way to a ladder, and they climbed up to the street. They were still in the lower district, one where the poor and impoverished could survive on meagre wages and community support. Vesper and Eleos’s Glaive jackets certainly caught some eyes, but they were mostly unbothered.

“Glaives,” Eleos muttered, and reached forward for Crowe’s hand. The three of them fell back and ducked into a shop to watch as four Glaives laughed as they made their trek home from the Citadel on a bridge above.

The shopkeeper shooed them out, seeing they had no interest in making a purchase. Vesper went first, to make sure the Glaives were out of sight, and then nodded her head to let Crowe and Eleos follow. “How much farther to—ah, Pelna’s?—apartment?” she asked, as they began walking again.

Both of the other two answered at the same time, “Not much.”

Eleos giggled. “Sorry, I—”

“Kid, you’re such a creep,” Crowe laughed. To Vesper, she continued, “It’s only three more blocks, and up one more level. A few minutes.”

Eleos stretched her hands behind her neck and sighed. “It’s amazing how everything can be so different and yet still so much the same. Pelna’s still in the same apartment, you and Luche are still in a can’t-live-with-’em-can’t-live-without-’em situation, but not only am I not part of your lives, I don’t exist. I’ll bet anything you barely know Cor, either, huh?”

“The Immortal?” Crowe shook her head. “He’s Crownsguard. Our jurisdiction doesn’t overlap.”

“That’s what he said when I met him, too.”

Vesper stayed quiet as she climbed the ladder that Crowe and Eleos stopped at. She trailed behind the two of them as they chatted the rest of the way, keeping an eye out for other Glaives. They made it the rest of the way without incident, just as the street lights flickered on and a cold rain began to fall, dripping from the upper streets and skyscrapers. Vesper reached out a hand to catch some of the rain in her palm, and her lip curled to see just how filthy the rain got this far down in the slums.

The storm sewers were one thing. She expected the water there to be grimy and stagnant, but here in the city? Fresh rain getting this dirty before it could properly puddle?

Worse yet, was the various barrels for rain collection she saw at the end of each gutter. Vesper only hoped that they wouldn’t use it for drinking or cooking or cleaning or—

“Who is it?”

Crowe had knocked on the door, and from the other side a man’s voice came through.

She answered, “It’s me, you dolt. Open up.”

A beat of silence followed, and then the quick turns of locks and a doorknob. The door creaked open a few inches, just enough for a man to peek around at them. He hissed a curse, and then flung the door open and yanked Crowe inside by her wrist. Eleos and Vesper followed quickly, and once they’d cleared the doorway Vesper took the time to throw back each of the locks down the line of the door.

She turned back around to see Crowe rocking back and forth in a crushing hug from a man with unkempt, dark hair and a stubbly beard surrounding a wide smile. Just on the other side of them was a taller man, his hair buzzed on the sides and falling down his back, a few braids sitting behind his ears. His smile was more reserved, and he kept glancing back and forth from Crowe to Eleos.

From her place next to Eleos, Vesper could tell that the glances were unnerving. And yet, Eleos’s eyes glistened and for the first time since learning her father would die… she looked at ease. Vesper put a gentle hand on Eleos’s back.

First, Nyx Ulric. Then she could focus on Aster again.

When the first man got his fill of the embrace, Crowe turned to the second and held out a fist. “It’s good to see you,” she said.

He punched their fists together, and then pulled her into a hug. “Likewise. I thought you were dead. They…” He turned his face away as it fell into a snarl, “Someone _lied_. They showed us your body today, Crowe. Said you’d died on the way out. Libertus—”

“Overreacted?” Both men nodded and Crowe sighed. “It doesn’t matter now. The Glaive is compromised. Luche was sent to kill me—”

“He _what?_ ”

“How dare—”

“Boys! Calm down, shit! These two helped me out and I changed his mind.”

Vesper raised a hand in greeting, while Eleos smiled and waved.

“Aren’t they Glaives?” the first man asked.

“Ah, I’m… not sure?” Crowe asked. She turned to the two of them. “What is your story on that topic, girls? It’s one of the few things we didn’t talk about, but you both are wearing Kingsglaive garb.”

Eleos motioned to Vesper. “You first,” she said. “My being here is probably going to take us into the ‘why are we here’ and ‘what the hell are you’ speech.”

Vesper nodded. “Fair point. So, my father is Kingsglaive and when I left home I took his jacket as both protective gear and a memento in case I couldn’t return.”

“And I’m in-training to be Kingsglaive,” Eleos said. “Yes, I know that all of you would know all of the trainees and I’m not one of them, but honestly, Time-with-a-capital-T is being a bitch to me right now so I really don’t want to hear it.” She turned to Vesper and said, “This is Pelna Khara,” pointing to the first man, and then to the second, “and my dad, Nyx Ulric.”

“I’m your what?” Nyx hissed. “Bullshit.”

Vesper narrowed her eyes at him, looked back and forth between the two of them quickly, and said, “He looks a bit young to be your father, especially if eight years pass from when you—”

“I’m aware,” Eleos groaned. “He looks like he did when I was ten or so.”

Pelna stared at Eleos and started, “How the hell—?”

“They’re from different times,” Crowe said. She held up her hands to halt the questions Nyx opened his mouth to ask, and continued, “We don’t have time right now to go through it all. What matters is that it’s already May 15th and apparently Insomnia is going to be a pile of rubble by dawn after tomorrow. Where’s Libertus? We’ll need all the help we can get”

Nyx shrugged. “He went off somewhere after Drautos brought us your personal effects.”

“What this about Insomnia being rubble?” Pelna asked.

Crowe waved her hand at Pelna and addressed Nyx. “A lost cause, for now. We’ll try to get in contact, but we’ll have to make plans with just the five of us.” She turned to Vesper and waved her forward. “Future girl, c’mon up and walk us through what’s going to happen over the next day and a half. Eleos,” she turned to the other and tossed her phone over, “text Luche and let him know we’ve gotten back into the city. Any information he can give us on Niflheim’s movements would be great.”

“Luche. The one who tried to kill you yesterday?” Nyx crossed his arms.

“Trust me. He’s got the fear of the gods in him,” Crowe chuckled. “The gods and Vesper, that is. Beyond that,” her face softened, “I trust him.”

Pelna also tried to reason with her. “Crowe, you also—”

“I know how it looks guys. Just… Please? He’s with us now. He doesn’t like the treaty, and he doesn’t agree with how Regis is bowing down to Niflheim’s demands, but he’s _with us._ ”

Both men sighed, relaxed, and nodded. Eleos continued to sit on a loveseat by the window overlooking the street. Vesper stepped up between Crowe and Pelna in front of the table, and began to describe the coming attack while Nyx looked on with crossed arms and a thoughtful scowl.

* * *

After a nap, a meal, and a shower, Vesper stood in front of the bathroom mirror tying her hair back. Once every strand was stiff and held in place courtesy of Crowe’s stash of hair products and her own trusty hair band, she braced her hands on the sink and breathed. She looked official. She knew how to act the part. She was the only one who could properly “pull off” both a Tenebraen and Lucian accent.

While Nyx, Pelna, Eleos, and Crowe were meeting with Luche and, later, King Regis to go over plans for tomorrow, Vesper was going to be at Lady Lunafreya’s side. General Glauca—Drautos, whatever—would absolutely take notice, as would the other Glaives on duty; any of which could be sympathizers to Niflheim. She would have to play the part of Lady-in-Waiting and Kingsglaive, depending on who was watching. From her very brief research before her nap, her duties wouldn’t differ too far from that of Shield.

She just had to be significantly more polite. As far as anyone was aware, a peace treaty was being signed tomorrow morning and her “liege” was a bargaining chip in said treaty.

“How’re you doing?”

In the doorway, Eleos leaned on one shoulder, her arms crossed and her hip cocked out. Her hair was down, dark locks resting delicately on her shoulders. The white tank top she’d borrowed from Crowe was loose, hanging off one side of her neck.

“Almost ready.”

Eleos snorted. “Not what I meant, and you know it.” She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, and then leaned back on it. “Crowe and Nyx are back from their meeting with the Shield. They said it went well.” She cocked her head to the side. “You’re nervous.”

Vesper didn’t bother trying to deflect again. “I can literally count the amount of serious battle situations I’ve been in on one hand, and that includes those that have happened since I’ve met you. Of course I’m nervous.”

“Pelna’s gonna hook you up with a headset,” Eleos said. “If you get into trouble, we’ll get to you and the Oracle as quick as we can. And besides,” she crossed the space in two steps and put her hands on Vesper’s shoulders. Their eyes caught in the mirror while Eleos rested her chin beside one of her hands and spoke into Vesper’s ear, “If you can fight as well as you can with such little ‘battle experience’ then I can’t wait to see what a powerhouse you’ll become once you get comfortable.”

Vesper grinned and tossed her head gently to push Eleos off of her. “It’s not just that,” she said. Her grin slowly faded and she touched her ribs gingerly. “The potions Crowe and Pelna gave me have helped, but I still can’t quite take a full breath.”

Eleos hummed. “That’s cuz we didn’t get them to you when the injury happened. Cor didn’t have any on hand, and Voti mentioned he had never been taught how to make Crystal-magic potions. The magic is always more potent when the injury is fresh.” She shook her head. “Anyway, it shouldn’t be an issue. You’ll just be watching out for Lady Lunafreya for an evening of political schmoozing and wine tasting! It’s an easy gig, Vesp.”

“Don’t call me that,” Vesper groaned, walking out of the bathroom with one last glance to make sure her hair was still perfect.

“What? Vesp?” Eleos followed her into the common area where Crowe and Pelna were watching the afternoon news broadcast from the couch. Nyx was pacing by the front door, phone to his ear, having been trying to get in touch with Libertus on-and-off all day to no success. It was time for her to make her way to the Citadel, so she could find her way into Lady Lunafreya’s chambers without raising suspicion. Vesper was fastening her coat up when Eleos continued, “There’s no way you made it through your life going only by _Vesper_. There’s a nickname somewhere.”

“Drop it,” Vesper muttered.

“Maybe it’s something completely different,” Eleos mused. “Cor used to call me Starchild when he and… well, anyway. I’ll figure it out!”

“You’d best hope you don’t,” Vesper said, finishing with her coat and slipping her feet into her boots. “The only one who can call me by my nickname is…”

 _Aster_.

Her heart stuttered in her chest at the thought of her friend, her prince, gods knows where, at the mercy of the Messengers… The first time he called her _Vee_ , when they were so very young and he was upset that he couldn’t say her whole name without tripping over the second syllable or adding extra consonants. And she offered to let him call her _Vee_ , because no one else called her that, and so she would always know it was her prince calling her if she heard that name.

“Is?” Eleos prompted.

Vesper shook her head and continued getting ready. “It doesn’t matter,” she muttered. She’d have to ask Pryna about him soon. Perhaps Lady Lunafreya could even help, to speak to the Messengers on her behalf. They’d made a deal, afterall. She gave herself one last mental check, rolled her shoulders, and then turned to Crowe.

“Nyx says the princess is staying in the Green Room on the twenty-second floor,” she said. “Do you know where that is?”

“I can find the twenty-second floor,” Vesper said, “but the Citadel is different in my time. I don’t know of a Green Room.”

“That’s okay,” Pelna said, holding out an earpiece. Vesper crossed the room to them and took the offered equipment. He continued, “You should be able to mutter as quiet as you can and I’ll be able to hear you just fine. I’ll guide you through, yeah?”

Vesper nodded, fitting the earpiece in. “Thank you.”

“I still think you should have backup,” Nyx grumbled. “We don’t know how much your presence has changed things already. Things could go wrong.”

“She’s a trained Shield, Da—,” Eleos flinched, stopping herself. Pelna snorted and Crowe laughed outright; Nyx himself looked ill. Eleos scratched her nose and continued, “Anyway, if anyone can think on their feet to keep Lady Lunafreya safe, Vessy can do it.”

Vesper groaned. “Please, Eleos. No nicknames.”

* * *

The roof of the Caelum Via hotel was sparsely populated, and yet the sounds of celebration reached up into the sky beyond that of just the fireworks. Vesper kept her gaze forward, ignoring the pit in her stomach growing as she swept over the crowd gathered on the hotel’s rooftop. There were faces that looked familiar, features that were out of place on oddly young people, sigils and family crests that she recognized from her history books but which were lost in the decades since the events of… well, tomorrow.

Less than fifteen paces away and surrounded by no less than four other glaives, His Majesty King Regis stood talking with Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt of Niflheim. There were few portraits remaining of either ruler in her time, but the ones that did remain were collected in the Museum of Eos, one of the restorations her father had worked on during her childhood. At King Regis’s side, his Shield stood firm and tall—Aster’s grandfather, Lord Clarus Amicitia.

Vesper couldn’t help the stutter in her heart. Even from such a distance, she could see the signature amber eyes of the Amicitia line clearly. With every pop of fireworks lighting up the sky, Vesper could find more resemblance between Aster and his grandfather.

“Hello.”

She took a deep, quick breath through her nose, and turned. Beside her, smiling, was the Oracle herself, dressed in white and silver with her platinum blonde hair pinned up.

“Your Highness,” Vesper nodded. Her Lucian accent was easy to keep on for simple phrases, at least.

“King Regis told me to seek out a certain glaive of his,” Lady Lunafreya continued, “should I have need of an escort.” Her smile grew, like she was in on a secret and was enjoying it. “You wouldn’t happen to be that glaive, would you?”

Vesper sighed, relieved. King Regis was taking their intelligence seriously, it seemed. She turned to fully face Lunafreya, bowed with one arm bent in front of her and one bent behind her—Tenebraen, not Lucian; a conscious choice—and nodded. “At your service, Your Highness,” Vesper said, keeping the Lucian accent for now. “Where would you like to go?”

The Oracle hooked her arm in Vesper’s and made sure to walk them by King Regis before heading off. Vesper saw both the King and his Shield nod minutely as she and Lunafreya passed, and she tried to give a reassuring nod back. Whatever Lady Lunafreya wanted privacy for… Vesper would listen, respond, and get the Oracle back to the party where she belonged without further incident.

The fireworks stopped. Lunafreya led her to a secluded balcony, far on the other side of the rooftop. The moon in the sky was huge from so high up. Vesper leaned on the railing to look over the edge into the city below, not even able to hear the cars or trains from how high up they were. There was, however, an ever-present _hum_ that Vesper couldn’t place, one that she’d been hearing since they’d arrived inside Insomnia.

“Do you know where King Regis sent Noctis?”

Vesper turned back to Lady Lunafreya. Safely away from prying ears, she dropped the Lucian accent. “I do, but I don’t think it’s safe here to say it aloud.”

The Oracle joined her at the balcony’s railing to look at the sky. “Is he safe?”

“He has his Crownsguard,” Vesper said.

Lady Lunafreya smiled. “Yes. He will be well. He has a destiny to fulfill, as do I; and it is, unfortunately, not to marry and surrender Lucis.”

“How much did King Regis tell you?” Vesper asked slowly.

“Enough, I suppose. I know you are here to try and save someone. And that you are here tonight because you in particular would arouse the least suspicion from Niflheim.”

Vesper hummed. It resonated with the _hum_ of the city.

“You are aware that you can’t save everyone,” she continued.

“I am. You’re aware that I have to try,” Vesper said.

“Some events are set in stone. It is necessary that they happen a certain way.”

“Or what?”

“These are inevitable; there is no ‘or what’ about them. The prophecy will come to fruition.”

Vesper’s response was interrupted by the clang of metal on metal. Both women turned around at the noise. A large figure in gleaming silver armor with a burgundy cape strode towards them.

“General Glauca,” Lady Lunafreya said, acknowledging him as much as telling Vesper who stood before them. Vesper reached up and turned on her earpiece that connected her to Pelna, and then put herself between Lunafreya and Glauca.

Through the initial static, she heard Pelna shuffling around in her ear and then say, “ _You’re connected, Vesper. What’s up?_ ”

Glauca’s helmet distorted the voice of the man inside. “Prophecy, fate, destiny; and you, Oracle, a slave to these. Yet you tout them like they are the only answer to a question no one asked.”

“Why are you here?” Lunafreya asked.

“You are far too clever to have ever believed in this peace,” Glauca said, stepping closer.

Vesper motioned for Lunafreya to move further along the railing, backing them up as Glauca continued his advance. “Highness, step back, please,” she said quietly, more to alert Pelna that something was wrong than to give Lunafreya a verbal cue she didn’t need.

“It’s a pity you couldn’t see your beloved Noctis. You have another purpose.”

They continued along the edge of the railing. “Lady Lunafreya is not here for Niflheim,” Vesper said. She put a hand on Lunafreya’s shoulder and gave a gentle shove as Glauca advanced; five steps in quick succession, and Vesper took her own two steps forward to meet him. He pulled his arm back for a punch, but Vesper ducked and followed through by digging her elbow into his stomach and putting as much of her weight behind it as she could. Just that simple movement put sweat on her brow as pain bloomed in her chest—

Eleos should have taken this position.

Glauca staggered back a few steps. “No,” he agreed. “I don’t recall any Tenebraen Glaives. Who are you?”

_“Vesper, I can’t grab your location.”_

“Hotel, rooftop, southwest balcony,” she muttered. Then, louder, she said, “Who I am doesn’t matter, but your intentions with Lady Lunafreya do. If you’re here to see her back to her rooms, surely that can be done without the need to lay hands on her?”

“She is here for me,” Glauca continued.

_“Nyx and Eleos are on their way. Stall for time. Ten minutes.”_

“You?” Lunafreya scoffed. “I do not understand.”

“Come tomorrow, you will.”

Vesper fought the urge to press her hand to her ribs, and instead moved back to stand directly in front of Lunafreya. Over her shoulder, she said, “My Lady, you must escape. I’ll hold him off. Get back to the party and to His Majesty.” She drew a dagger from the aether and threw it at Glauca’s neck, and when he deflected it, drew a broadsword instead. He began to charge, and she met him halfway, her sword sparking against his armor as she brought it up to block his attempt to swipe her out of the way.

The meeting of their arms gave her a shock down her spine and forced her to grit against the pain. Nyx and Eleos were close. Ten minutes. She had to keep Glauca from going after Lady Lunafreya, and also keep him from seeing how weakened two blows had made her already.

“You would raise arms against us at a celebration of peace, Glaive?”

Vesper growled, “You and I both know the farce this _peace_ is,” and then pushed into the block enough to get Glauca to have to back up. If she just used her arms, it didn’t hurt so much in her chest.

Glauca straightened, turned his arm over in front of himself. He seemed to consider her for a moment, then said, “There are those among the Glaive who are like-minded, who were smart enough to see that they were fighting an inevitable loss. I can take you to them. You need not die in this war.”

“You are mistaking my intelligence for complacence,” Vesper said. She glanced to where Lunafreya had been, grateful to see the space vacant. _Stall for Nyx and Eleos_. “I have no delusions about how tomorrow is going to happen. My only goal is to prevent the significant loss of life that is sure to follow your empire’s underhanded attack.”

“Then you and I have similar goals. Join us, and we can protect all of Lucis’s peoples.”

A weight settled on Vesper’s shoulder and upper back—focussed on four points, and out of the corner of her eye, a black cat head with two bug-like antennae coming out from its forehead leaned close to her ear. The cat-thing purred, the rumble next to her head soothing but also… she could hear a voice?

_I’m Zerno, a Messenger. I’m here to help._

“What is that?” Glauca asked.

Zerno chirupped. _You cannot fight him with grit and spit. I can imbue you the power to ignore the pain of your bones. Will you accept?_

Vesper nodded. It was a Messenger, after all. “I’ll take the help that’s given.” The weight disappeared from her shoulder and Zerno’s antennae faded from her sight, but the grating along her ribs eased. There was a rumble in her chest, similar to Zerno’s purr. She pulled her sword up to block as Glauca charged in for another blow, and this time there was no pain or shock down her spine.

She rolled to dodge the second fist Glauca brought in, dropping her sword back into the aether as she went. She drew a dagger once she was on her feet, turned, and threw it just as Glauca was turning around to face her again.

The dagger stuck beautifully, right where she’d wanted it, in a break in the armor on Glauca’s waist. Vesper felt a smirk slide onto her face as she drew another dagger and threw that one, too; Glauca staggered back as it sank into the other side of his body. Having her full range of motion back was _wonderful_.

“Whatever that _thing_ was, it won’t be enough to save you,” Glauca said. “If you stand with a king who puts his son before his people, then you must be cut down. It is a shame; we could have used more soldiers.”

Vesper heard rhythmic stomping coming towards them, and glanced to the side to look. The smirk fell from her face—four Niflheim units flanked Lady Lunafreya, rifles at the ready. She took a half step towards the princess, feeling the weight of guilt rise up in her throat.

The purring in her chest turned heavy and loud. _Focus! The fight is in front of you!_

She turned back to Glauca as her daggers came flying through the air back at her. She focussed on one enough to send it into the aether before it could connect; the other, she flattened herself to the stone tiles to dodge before she could push the dagger back where it belonged in a shower of crystals.

Still on the ground, she wasn’t able to avoid the kick Glauca delivered to her shoulder. She rolled along with the force of the blow as the balcony echoed with Lady Lunafreya’s scream. Even with Zerno purring in her chest, Vesper felt the crack of her shoulder and the grating of broken bones as she rolled to a stop. It didn’t hurt by any means, but she could _feel_ it, and as she tried to push herself up, she fell back down as she tried to put weight in that shoulder.

_You need to get up._

“I can’t,” she murmured.

_He will kill you._

Vesper watched Glauca stalk towards her, his armor clanking all the way. She pushed her knees forward, rolled her good elbow underneath her, and pushed up.

_You must stand up._

First Aster, now Lunafreya; how many royals is she going to lose to her ineptitude? She groaned, getting a foot underneath her. “Gods, I _can’t._ ”

“Abandon your prayers,” Glauca said, now directly in front of her. She looked up at him and snarled, but he continued, brandishing his own sword. “The gods do not listen.”

_Become the night._

Glauca raised the sword overhead, and began to drop it down to Vesper’s back. Lunafreya screamed again. Faintly, she could hear her name being called by two different voices. The scattering of crystals along the stonework of the balcony meant _aether_ or _warping_ , but Vesper couldn’t focus enough to figure out which it was. More stomping, more Niflheim units.

The last thing of which Vesper was aware was the metal shattering over her skin as her vision clouded with darkness and the purring in her chest stopped.


	4. Dusk to Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vesper and Eleos are saving people; Nyx, Crowe, each other. 
> 
> The Night grows darker. A Light appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I'd get this chapter done before the end of the month and dammit I got it up with 5 minutes left of January. #ProfessionalProcrastinator
> 
> I'd like to thank Rees for yelling at me to stop farming when Stardew Valley threatened to take over my life. I'd like to thank Lyco for tearing apart my first draft but being nice about it (like she rips my soul apart but I thank her for it). And I'd like to thank my kid for being a general darling and learning to entertain themself so I can sit down and RELAX once in a while.

Vesper woke in a vaguely familiar room, one which would be well-restored after the reconstruction of Insomnia. Whenever Vesper stayed in the Citadel in recent years she was to use this suite of rooms—the Shield’s quarter’s. She preferred the comforts of her childhood home with her father and Gladio, but this was her place in the Citadel should meetings or training go late into the night or would start early the next morning.

Sat in a chair beside the bed, Eleos had fallen asleep on crossed arms. She had taken her glaive jacket off in the night and draped it over the back of the chair. Vesper’s own jacket was missing, but it had to be around somewhere. No one else was in the room. The barest streams of dawn were peeking through the curtains on the eastern window. Vesper clenched and unclenched her hand, and then slid it carefully across the bed to Eleos’s elbow.

The barest touch of a fingertip against her skin had Eleos flinching to full alertness. She pulled a kukri from the aether and swung it in a wide arc as she stood up, knocking the chair over. She took a defensive stance between the rest of the room and Vesper, kukri at the ready, panting heavily.

“Eleos,” Vesper wheezed, her throat sore and dry. She coughed, grunted, and reached out again, “Eleos, it’s just me.”

Eleos glanced over her shoulder at Vesper, surveyed the room again, and then let herself and her kukris both drop onto the bed. She then took Vesper’s hand in both of her own and pressed them to her cheek. “ _Gods_ , Vesper. You scared me.”

Vesper tried to laugh, but ended up only wheezing. “I saw.”

“No.” Eleos frowned, shook her head. “No, you... Vesper, you took on Glauca and almost _died_. And then this black mist started pouring off of your skin and we couldn’t get close to you without it solidifying and blocking us.”

“I—”

“And when it finally faded,” Eleos went on, “you were so beaten and bruised we couldn’t move you without your body creaking and cracking and _gods_ it was horrible.” She turned her head and pressed her forehead to Vesper’s wrist. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again! My da—Nyx had potions in the aether he had access to, and they started to help, but the damage was so much. It’s why you’re here, in the Shield’s quarters; the King himself saw to your healing.”

The door banged open and Clarus and Nyx stormed in with weapons drawn. Vesper winced and Eleos flinched, almost throwing her kukri at the two men coming into the room. After checking the room over, both men lowered their weapons; Eleos set her kukri back on the sheets and relaxed as well.

“We heard something bang,” Nyx said.

Eleos waved her hand over to the chair, “Vesper startled me when she woke up.”

Clarus nodded. “I see. The both of you are welcome to join us when you’re ready,” he said, and then he turned back to the outer room.

Nyx was more hesitant. He stepped further into the room and, frowning, said, “You had us going for a bit there, kid. You feeling okay, now?”

Vesper nodded, sitting up. She pressed lightly on her ribs, noting that there was little to no pain. Overall, she had a general low-grade ache and a bit of stiffness in her back. “I’ll manage.”

“No,” Eleos said, “no ‘managing.’ I don’t care if Niflheim is making its stand today, if you’re not in top shape, then we do nothing.”

“We won’t have a choice in the matter. Every Insomnian will be involved, whether by fighting, fleeing, or dying.” Vesper took a deep breath, and continued her inquiry. “What of Lady Lunafreya? Were you able to stop Niflheim from taking her?”

“No,” Nyx crossed his arms. “Glauca got away.”

“We were more concerned with what was going on with you!” Eleos added.

Vesper groaned. “The whole point of going to the celebration was to try and keep her safe.”

“We’ll make it work. If not, we’ll see if Pryna can give us another chance.”

“We shouldn’t waste the Crystal’s energy.” Vesper froze, stunned. “The Crystal,” she whispered. She scrambled out of the bed, feeling her entire body protest as she rolled away from Eleos’s grabbing hands. Standing itself wasn’t difficult, but walking—her socks scraping along the rug—that’s what tripped her.

“Easy there, kid,” Nyx said, catching her. “What’s this about the Crystal?”

“I forgot,” she muttered. She pushed herself out of Nyx’s hold, and started towards the door again. “I can’t believe I forgot!”

Eleos was beside her in a flash of warping crystals, dropping her kukri away and sliding her arm around Vesper’s waist. “Whatever you forgot,” she growled, “it can wait until you can walk. You need another potion. Maybe another nap.”

Vesper bullied herself out of Eleos’s hold and stumbled into the sitting room. There, both King Regis and Lord Clarus sat calmly, sharing a pot of tea while they read over the treaty. Vesper bowed to the King and said, “Your Majesty, Niflheim plans to steal the Crystal today.”

King Regis motioned to the couch across from where he and Clarus sat. “Please, sit. You’ve been through much.”

As she sat, she continued. “My apologies. I should have sent word ahead with Nyx and Crowe yesterday. It slipped my mind, with everything else.”

“You are the one the Messengers brought from the future?”

Vesper nodded. Beside her, Eleos sat and placed Vesper’s Glaive coat over her shoulders. She turned her face into the collar and breathed in the calming scent of home.

“Niflheim taking the Crystal is a big deal, Vesp,” Eleos said. “How’d you just _forget_ that?”

“It matters not,” Regis said. “What matters is that she has remembered now.”

“We have a princess to save, a city to quietly evacuate, and now we have to pile on keeping the Crystal out of Niflheim’s hands?” Eleos groaned.

“We’ll get it done,” Nyx said. “We’ve got a lot of lives on the line otherwise.”

“The team should return with Lady Lunafreya in a few hours,” Clarus said, “so long as they’re successful.”

Vesper looked to Eleos. “What team?”

“Crowe, Pelna, and Luche,” Eleos said. “Luche said he knew where they’d likely keep ships, so the three of them left a little while ago to try and get her. We haven’t heard anything from them since they spotted the Niff fleet about forty minutes ago.”

“They’ll be fine,” Nyx said. “I mean, I don’t trust Luche with a spoon, let alone a Niff airship and a princess hostage. But Crowe and Pelna’ll bring her back.”

“Then we need only focus on evacuations,” Regis said.

“And the Crystal,” Eleos added.

Clarus shook his head. “His Majesty is right. The citizens are more important.”

“The Crystal is _dying_ ,” Eleos said. “Who knows what letting the Niffs put their grimy fingers all over her would do to the energy she’s got left?”

“If it’s happened before,” Regis nodded to Vesper, “it can happen again. Let me worry about the Crystal.”

“No can do, Your Majesty,” Eleos leaned back, crossing her arms. “It’s mine and Vesper’s job to protect the Crystal.”

“Wait, Eleos. He has a point.”

Eleos groaned. “Vesper, seriously, whose side are you on?”

“The side that keeps the most people alive,” she said. “Niflheim took the Crystal in my time. The _only_ thing we’re here to change is the life of your father, remember? Voti is still waiting for us in Duscae—it’s been two days for us, perhaps no time at all for him, but we left him there nonetheless. Suppose we let Niflheim take the Crystal, give them a token resistance so they don’t suspect anything, and save as many citizens as we can before nightfall. As long as one of those citizens is Nyx, we’ll have completed our mission here.”

The room was still and quiet for a moment. Light from the sunrise licked over the two of them, warmth and fire on their skin and in their eyes. In a corner, the clock chimed seven times.

Eleos was the one to turn away, to face the King with the dawn still lighting her face. “Have the guards that would have been stationed with the Crystal work on the evac. Vesper and I will take care of the Niffs when they come to take it.”

King Regis smiled. “Very well.”

* * *

The vault in which the Crystal resided was a tall room built into the very center of the Citadel. It included a variety of safety measures for the Crystal. First, a set of outer doors that needed a series of keycards and passcodes. Next was a thick, circular metal door set with charms and protective spells hundreds of years old. The guards set the final safeguard for the Crystal: a hexagonal prism of tall metallic plates. When the six pieces met around the Crystal, they fused together seamlessly. High up on the panels were small windows to let some of the Crystal’s light into the room, but it was otherwise dark.

Static crackled in her ear. “ _We’re locking you two in now. You sure you’ll be alright?_ ”

Vesper looked at Eleos, knowing she heard Nyx’s worried query as well. She turned on her mic and said, “Yes. We know the risks.”

Eleos added, “And we’ll make sure to get out before the risk becomes an issue.”

“ _Eleos, I—_ ”

Eleos cut him off before he could get going. “Save any mushy ‘stay safe’ sentiment for, like, never, okay?”

Vesper heard Nyx huff on their channel, and then say, “ _I’ll tell you to stay safe all I’d like. You—you’re my kid, remember?_ ”

Eleos’s smile was softer than the dawn yet brighter than the Crystal; Vesper had to look away. “Yeah, okay. We’ll see you on the other side.” She choked on a soft, short giggle, then sniffed and was silent again.

Nyx didn’t respond beyond a soft chuckle, and then it was silent. Vesper spent the time pacing in front of the inner door, while Eleos spun a kukri around her hand. They waited for Niflheim to appear, for updates from Nyx or Clarus, or even a sign from the Messengers that they were doing the right thing. Vesper began flicking her hands out and turning them over and over again.

Some sort of black mist. She wondered if she could force it to appear again. Such a power had never been recorded in the Kingsglaive archives, so she could be sure her connection to the aether through Voti wasn’t the cause.

During one of her passes, Eleos handed her a potion the King had made for them earlier. “Drink up. Your ribs could probably use a bit more help.” Vesper mindlessly took the potion and drank. She began to clench and relax her fist in pulses to see if it would help bring out the mist again. Soon the potion was gone and the mist still hadn’t formed.

Eleos took Vesper’s hand and uncurled her fingers with her own. Her kukri went back into the aether. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trying to form that black mist again.”

“Don’t.” Eleos’s pout turned into a frown. “That shit was dangerous.”

“Was it?”

“Yes! It kept us from giving you medical aid! You were dying and we couldn’t do anything about it!”

“Glauca’s sword was coming down on me,” Vesper muttered. “I remember that. Zerno said _become the night_ and then I blacked out. But I felt the sword hit me. I felt it _shatter_.”

“That—wait, back up. Zerno?”

“A Messenger. It was how I was able to hold off Glauca for as long as I did, let me ignore the pain I was in. It mentioned imbuement?”

“Whatever,” Eleos shook her head and crossed her arms. “That black shit still can’t be good. Not sure where it came from or why, but I don’t like it.”

“I—”

“ _Princess secure, KG team back in Insomnia,_ ” Crowe’s voice crackled over their comms.

Eleos let out a whoop and Vesper sagged with relief. One objective down.

“ _Excellent work. What are we to expect from Niflheim?_ ” Clarus muttered.

“Five airships. We took out one on our way back.”

“ _Rendezvous with Ulric and assist in evacuations._ ”

“ _No can do, Sir. Princess demands to go to the Citadel. Says she needs to retrieve something first._ ” A pause, one where Eleos and Vesper stared at each other’s shoes impatiently. “ _The Ring of the Lucii. She says she needs to make sure it gets to Prince Noctis._ ”

Clarus was silent for a moment as well. Then, he said, “ _Assure Lady Lunafreya that the Ring will come to her, but that her safety is paramount. Crystal team, respond._ ”

Together, they said, “Here, Sir.”

“ _King Regis will see to you both that the Ring is in your hands. You will bring the Ring to the Oracle. Do not put it on, under any circumstances. Understood?_ ”

“Yes Sir,” Vesper answered for them both.

“ _The King and his Cabinet are entering the treaty room. My mic will remain off, though I will still receive incoming comms. We do not expect this treaty to receive ink. Prepare for Niflheim to strike in the next quarter hour._ ” Clarus’s comm went silent.

Eleos and Vesper caught eyes. “Another potion?” Eleos asked.

Vesper shook her head. “We should save them for emergencies. Who knows how many soldiers will come to secure the Crystal? We’ll have to fight our way through them all.”

“MTs,” Eleos shook her head. “Not soldiers. Niffs don’t risk their people in their infantry. We’ll be fighting Magiteck units.”

“Will they fight as soldiers?”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re better.” Eleos shoved Vesper’s shoulder with her own, grinning. “Don’t worry, though. If it’s too much to handle, I’ll warp us out of here.”

Vesper grinned back. “Don’t overdo it.”

Eleos laughed. “Right, like you have any place to tell me not to ‘overdo it.’ You’re hilarious.”

Vesper’s grin slipped into a pout, and she felt heat rise in her cheeks. They each returned to their preferred method of waiting. Soon, the faint _booms_ of explosions reached them and they both took their positions. The Citadel floor rumbled under their feet while trails of dust fell from nooks in the ceiling.

They formed their weapons from the aether. Eleos spun her kukris in her palms as she watched the door. Vesper pulled a rifle and fit it against her shoulder, sighting in the same direction. Outside, they heard footsteps rummaging around and Vesper readied herself for the MTs to break through the inner door.

The round door hissed open and Vesper opened fire while Eleos disappeared from her side in a flash of warp crystals. Eleos slashed and cut with her kukris in the fray; Vesper directed her fire to the MTs streaming in and rolling to the side to avoid the blades. It could take three or four taps of the trigger, but each of the stragglers fell before coming too far inside.

But none could escape Eleos, a twirling whirlwind of warp crystals and sharp, curved blades. A disaster in her own right, she felled any who came close. And with her warp, she closed the distance on the few who had the sense to remain out of reach.

When the Niflheim MT units were broken on the floor and the silence was heavy in the air, Eleos panted and looked back at Vesper. She hadn’t dropped her rifle from its place on her shoulder, still sighted at the door. Vesper glanced over at Eleos and gave her a brief grin. If that was all Niflheim brought to secure the Crystal... could they have actually changed more than—?

They didn’t expect the bombs. Heat and shrapnel blasted through the first door and rushed through the inner door. Eleos’s scream as it passed over her was terrible and piercing. Vesper dropped her rifle and ran to meet the fire as it filled the room, sliding along the stone floor and covering Eleos’s body with her own.

The first blast set off a second, and then a third and fourth, and the chamber’s stone walls cracked and crumbled.

When the dust settled, Eleos was unconscious, covered in soot and dirt—no, her skin, _gods_ , burned black in places and shiny red in others. The room had blacked out. Vesper leaned up onto an elbow and reached into the aether for a potion. Her body ached, but Eleos needed attention first. She rolled off to the side, hissing as the burns on her hands stretched and the blisters ripped, and tipped the potion over the worst of Eleos’s wounds. It wouldn’t wake her yet, but the healing magic worked topically.

Once the bottle was empty, she tossed it aside and reached for another. The bottle didn’t scatter back into the aether like it should; it instead rolled into the dark and vanished. Vesper felt her heart skip in her chest, but closed her eyes and bit her lip. “Not the time,” she muttered, and lifted Eleos’s head enough to ease the second potion down her throat. She got Eleos to swallow down that bottle, and again applied another half of one to the burns. After that, Eleos began to wake. She scrunched her nose, coughed, flexed her hands and feet, then whimpered Vesper’s name.

“I’m here. You’ll be alright,” she said.

“Have you— _Ifrit’s dick that hurts_ —uh, have you helped yourself?”

Vesper shook her head. “I wasn’t as injured. You were closer to the blast.” Her face and hands were hot from her own burns, and curiously the blisters she’d scuffed up moments earlier were scabbed over already. _Not as injured_ wasn’t the same as _somehow my body is fixing itself_ but she didn’t want to worry Eleos over a new event neither of them could explain.

“Take a potion,” Eleos ordered, sitting up gingerly. “I’m up now. How long were we out?” She looked around the room and frowned. “And why is it pitch black in here, but I can see you just fine?”

Vesper swallowed down a potion. They had two left. She didn’t have an answer, so she stayed silent.

Eleos narrowed her eyes. “Vesper, are we... are we in your black mist?”

“Ah. That makes sense,” Vesper muttered.

“’Makes sense’??? That’s all you have to say??? What the...” Eleos fumbled her words, frustrated, and groaned. “You have to make it stop.”

“How did it happen last time?”

“It went away on its own, but _you have to get us out of here_.”

“We could wait it out,” Vesper mused. “We need to rest and heal.”

“The attack is happening now! My dad is out there _now_!” Eleos took her hands and pulled Vesper up to kneel in front of her. “Please,” Eleos whimpered, “I can’t... I can’t do this saving-the-world thing without knowing he’ll be there when we’re done. Please. Get us out of here.”

And oh, did Vesper understand. She still had no clue whether or not Aster was well, and hadn’t their first vision been telling enough that once she could no longer sense him there she simply gave up and let the world collapse around her. But Eleos seemed like the type who would fight until her body gave out to secure her fathers’ lives; certainly, the most the woman has ever emoted has been in relation to her family.

Vesper turned her focus inwards. The mist had come from her, surely it could go back to her. She frowned and whispered, “Okay,” as she thought of a way to pull it back.

She tried making a tugging motion with her mind. Nothing.

A vacuum.

A dismissal.

A wish.

Nothing worked.

She sniffed, dipped her head so Eleos couldn’t see her tears as they filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, this is beyond me. I can’t—I can’t make it work.”

Eleos growled. “No. You have to. Are you still hurt? Do you need another—”

“I don’t need another potion,” Vesper snapped.

“Bullshit!”

“I feel _fine_.”

“With how beat up I am, there’s no way you’re anywhere near ‘fine’,” Eleos seethed.

“What if we need it later?” Vesper pleaded.

“If you need it now, then take it! Why are you so determined to be a martyr!?”

Vesper opened her mouth to answer, then closed it just as fast. Her teeth snapped together as she turned away. She sniffled, wiped at her face, and pulled one of the last two potions from the aether. She drank half of it and then wordlessly handed it backwards to Eleos.

“Vesper, I’m sorry, that—”

She shook the bottle until Eleos took it and gulped her half down. They sat down together, back to back.

Vesper continued to hold back tears.

“What is it with the self-sacrifice complex?” Eleos asked. “Is it a Shield thing, or…?”

Vesper was silent for a few shakey, gasping breaths. “It’s just. That… hit a bit close. My father and I fought about that same thing the night before—before all this,” Vesper waved her hand around, gesturing to _everything_. “But all I’ve ever wanted was to protect people, especially my Prince. And I failed him.”

“You… what?” Eleos perked up, her back stiffening against Vesper’s.

“He could be anywhere, any _when_ I suppose,” Vesper sniffled and wiped at her eyes to keep the tears off her cheeks, “and I’m stuck in this black magical void.”

Eleos groaned. “Look, I don’t understand the mentality of the Shield thing; to be honest, I don’t care. But you need to get past this. So what? Your life is scrap—less than mine, or Voti’s, or whoever—because you fucked up once?”

“That’s not it.”

“Isn’t it? Your stunt with the Iron Giant daemon, last night with Glauca, and now with you refusing a simple potion?”

“I don’t need it,” Vesper said stiffly. “Look at me. I’m _fine_.”

Her eyes darkened and the mist grew spotty around them. Indeed, the burns and blisters which minutes ago had been pus-filled and peeling were now barely shiny red. Her face, once pulsing with her heartbeat now was only hot with the frustration of justifying herself to Eleos and her own inability to escape the mist.

“Physically, whatever. Bullshit yourself all you’d like,” Eleos shook her head, “but I see you.” She turned them both around to look Vesper in the eye, willfully ignoring the differences in their rates of healing. Softer, with her hand brushing the back of Vesper’s neck, she said again, “I see you.”

The mist finally faded away, and the rubble of the Crystal’s chamber came into focus. Eleos didn’t let go of Vesper, nor did Vesper rise from the floor, even after the mist had dissolved. They knelt, pressed together, Eleos gently thumbing a stray tear from Vesper’s face as it slipped.

“His name is Aster,” Vesper murmured. Louder, she continued, “My prince. The Messengers took him to help with the Crystal’s plight. And yet—”

“He wasn’t there with the rest of us when we all arrived outside Lestallum,” Eleos finished for her. She nodded. “As soon as we’re done saving my dad, I promise I’ll help you look for your prince.”

“Thank you,” Vesper whispered. Two more tears fell from her eyes, which she reached up and wiped away herself. She sighed, and then looked around the destroyed chamber. “This room is unstable. We should move.”

“We need to meet up with the King to get the Ring anyway,” Eleos nodded. They helped each other stand, and then Vesper followed Eleos out of the room through the open vault doors. They picked their way over MTs and rubble. Once they were safely in the hallway outside of the vault, Vesper lifted a hand to her ear and checked her comm unit.

“Crystal team checking in,” she said. Static was all that responded. To Eleos, Vesper said, “Do you hear anything?” At a negative head shake she asked, “Try your mic?”

Eleos nodded. “Repeat, this is Crystal team checking in.”

Still, only static.

Vesper and Eleos gave each other a tense glance. Then, Vesper pulled a fresh rifle from the aether and started down the hall. Eleos followed, kukris at the ready as Vesper pushed open a door to an emergency stairwell. The staircase went all the way down to the maintenance and support tunnels below the Citadel. They wouldn’t need to go that far—Regis had the Niflheim cabinet sign the treaty on the ninth floor. Eleos and Vesper started their trek down.

* * *

They heard the screaming before they reached the Treaty room. Vesper began to sprint at the sound of crystals scattering on the floor; Eleos threw a kukri and warped the rest of the way to the open doors. Writhing on the floor was a man in white, his arm on fire—the screams were his.

Vesper came to a halt at Eleos’s left. Glauca, stooped beside the man in white, gave them both the barest of glances. Deeper in the room, King Regis struggled to his feet, one hand clutched in a tight fist. High on the wall behind him, Lord Clarus hung pinned by a sword through his back.

The screams stopped. Glauca stood and turned to Regis, sword raised.

Vesper was already moving. She reached for the broadsword in the aether and intercepted Glauca’s strike, then returned one of her own. A shower of crystals heralded Eleos’s warp, which she followed up with a flurry of swipes to Glauca’s neck and chest. Vesper struck a staggering blow at Glauca’s turned side as he tried to fend off Eleos.

Eleos landed beside her. “Vesper, the King,” she snapped, and then cupped her hand around a fireball and hurled it at Glauca. Fire exploded against Glauca’s armor. Eleos warped in to attack with her kukris, but he batted her away with the hilt of his sword.

Vesper took King Regis by the elbow and helped him stand. “Stay behind me, Your Majesty.” Together, they hastened to the elevator at the back of the room, keeping an eye on Eleos the whole time. She winced as Eleos flew across the room after Glauca’s attack, and took a step forward before the King’s grip kept her in place at his side.

“Quickly, now,” he said, and stretched out his other hand towards Glauca. Lightning magic gathered in his palm, and then fired out in a beam to strike the General in the chest. Glauca doubled over with a loud grunt, even loosening his grip on his sword.

Eleos warped in beside them with a shower of crystals. The doors shut as Glauca began to stand back up.

Vesper barreled into Eleos, holding her tight until she winced; then, she pulled back.

Eleos hissed as she touched her side where the hilt of Glauca’s sword struck her. “Not broken,” she said, “but I’m gonna be one giant bruise in the morning.”

“Please, see the Ring to Luna,” the King interrupted them. They both turned to him, blood spattered on his face and chest and leaning heavily against the mirrored wall of the elevator. Vesper reached into the aether and pulled their last potion out and offered it to him; he waved them off, silently declining. He opened his palm and in his hand he held a woven ring with a black stone; the Ring of the Lucii. “For the future of all.”

Eleos reached out for it, and Regis flinched as she grasped it. He turned their hands over, the Ring clasped between their palms, and continued, “Do not attempt to wear it. Only those of the line of Lucis can safely harness its power.” His eyes, rimmed with sadness and heavy with his burdens, hardened as he continued. “You already saw the destruction the Lucii will wreck upon those they deem unworthy.”

She turned to Vesper, who quietly said, “Ravus. The man back in the treaty room who burned.” Vesper nodded to King Regis and said, “We’ll bring it to Lady Lunafreya.”

“It is all I can ask,” Regis said, and let the Ring settle in Eleos’s hand.

A slight crash rocked the elevator and scattered dust from the ceiling. The three of them braced themselves on the walls; Vesper reached out to steady the King. The door opened and they filed out quickly—Eleos, then Regis, and finally Vesper. Eleos led the way across the circular hall while Vesper watched the rear for Glauca’s pursuit.

She brushed by Regis, though, as he leaned into his cane in the center of the hall. She looked back at him and he smiled sadly, saying, “I do believe you know what’s to happen now.”

Vesper’s breath caught. “It—It doesn’t have to. Your Majesty, we can—”

“Tell Luna,” he silenced her with a hand on her shoulder, “that I wish for her and Noctis to live happily.”

“They _do_ ,” Vesper said, “There’s a time they do. Voti, your grandson; please let us get you out of here and you can meet him.”

“Vesper,” Eleos called for her as another crash rumbled through the elevator shaft. “We gotta _go_.”

“You must achieve your objective,” Regis said, pulling away. “Nyx Ulric will live, of that I have no doubt; but only if you both go to him and keep him safe.” He gestured for Vesper to pass him, and continued, “For Noctis to become King, my time must pass. My power will join the Lucii, and in that way I will meet this grandson of whom you speak.”

Vesper shook her head. “No, _gods_ , don’t make me fail again. I can see you to dawn tomorrow, _please_ —”

“You are no failure,” Regis said. “It is my duty as a king to keep my people safe, and yours to safeguard the Crystal. Protect Eos and live on as a champion of the Messengers; I will live on in the Ring, as my forebears before me.” He gestured to Eleos, who came up beside Vesper and then pulled her back to the other side of the hall. As they walked backward, Regis’s palm shone an icy blue as, shard by shard, a shield of magic built up from the floor to the ceiling, separating them from himself and the coming threat. Eleos tugged at her hand to get her to move faster as the elevator car gave way in a shower of sparks and dust.

“Vesper—!”

“Godspeed, both of you,” Regis said. He then turned to face Glauca as the general gracefully tumbled out of the shaft.

“No, please, Eleos, we can’t leave him,” she pleaded.

Regis tossed aside his cane as Glauca gave him the honor of a final bow before charging forward. The king waited until Glauca was within a sword’s length from his outstretched hand. Then, he cast lightning magic, striking true in his chest plate and throwing Glauca back.

“He made his choice,” Eleos snapped. “Let him die with the dignity he’s earned. We have a job to finish!”

“But—”

Lightning struck again; this time, Glauca was ready and grounded it with his sword. “Behold the King of Lucis,” he growled as he advanced on Regis, “who hoarded tranquility within his precious walls. Where is your tranquility now, king?”

“Vesper!” Eleos’s pull on her arm became stronger and more insistent. Vesper was stuck still, horror gripping her heart and unable to look away.

Glauca was an arm’s length from Regis, sparks from the lightning flying everywhere. “Here is your peace, by steel’s swift descent.” He took the last step into Regis’s guard, used the hilt of his sword to knock aside Regis’s hand, and then swung his blade.

Both girls screamed as the king’s head parted from his body and rolled along the ground. Glauca’s armor smoked as he seemed to catch his breath. He stepped over the collapsed heap of the dead king’s body and waited at the edge of the shield, his sword at the ready.

“Come on, come on, come _on_!” Vesper finally let Eleos drag her away. Vesper could hardly see through the haze of tears, but trusted Eleos to lead her through the Citadel.

What if it had been Aster? Or Voti? How could they have stood there and _watched_ while Glauca… What sort of Shield was she?

“This way,” Eleos tugged her aside and down into a new stairwell. She looked back up at Vesper and asked, “You gonna be okay?”

Vesper shook her head.

“Yeah, me neither,” Eleos muttered. “Few more floors, then we’ll be on the ground level. We find my dad, we get him and Lunafreya out of the city, then we go back to Voti and do our best to keep moving forward.”

Vesper followed Eleos down the stairs again. “How?”

“Baby steps, if we must. One foot in front of the other,” Eleos said. “And if we have to, we pull each other along.”

* * *

The stairwell opened up to a hidden door behind the throne, out of which both of them peeked their heads. The walls were crumbling; what once were grand dark stone pillars and embellishments now lay in pieces across marbled tile. The electricity kept cutting in and out, though the times of darkness were getting longer.

As they ventured into the throne room, Vesper’s earpiece began to static again.

“ _Crystal team co_ —...”

Eleos closed her eyes and put her hands over her mouth. “Crowe,” she whimpered. They both looked around for cover while they tried to reestablish contact.

“...- _leos, respond ple_ —”

They settled on a space in-between the far side of the throne’s circular staircase and the wall. After ducking down in their new cover, Vesper clicked on her audio input and tried, “Crystal team checking in.”

The comms exploded.

“ _Oh thank fu—_ ”

“ _...the Cryst—..._ ”

“ _So much —tic — feared...worse._ ”

Crowe, Pelna, Luche; they were all okay. Vesper put a hand on Eleos’s shoulder as she began laughing and smiling. Finally, one line came through clear and static-free. “ _Ramuh bless, Vesper; is Eleos with you?_ ”

Eleos was quick to click on her own audio input and reply, “I’m here, Nyx.”

“ _Where is ‘here’?_ ”

“The throne room,” Vesper said. “What is Lady Lunafreya’s status?”

“ _She’s with us, near the south garage. Crystal team, hold your position; Luche and I will come to you._ ”

“Bad idea,” Eleos said. “Glauca’s on our tail, and we’re not sure how far of a lead we’ve got.”

They waited in silence, hardly breathing. Vesper tried to drop her hand to her side, but Eleos caught it and squeezed.

“ _Crystal team, hold position,_ ” Nyx reiterated, and then the comms went silent again.

Eleos turned off her input and bit her lip. “We should be meeting them.”

“I agree,” Vesper nodded, clicking off her input as well. “Orders are orders, though. We should—”

Eleos jumped back from her and yelped, “ _Fucking_ —What is that???”

Vesper turned her head enough to see the Messenger, Zerno, perched on her shoulder. The black cat Messenger nudged her temple and purred. Vesper reached up and stroked two fingers through the fur at its nape.

“Hush, Eleos; it’s just Zerno.”

“Zerno???”

“One of the Messengers; specifically, the one that helped me last night, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” Eleos rolled her eyes. “Because, you know, we all have had semi-divine beings just show up before. No big deal.”

“You did meet the other Messengers at least once, yes?”

“I met Pryna,” Eleos said. “Does that count?”

_The Messengers have discussed_ , it interrupted, echoing in her mind. _The presence of two Rings may be helpful in restoring the Crystal’s power. Bring it to the Lucian King._

“But we’re supposed to give the Ring to Lady Lunafreya,” Vesper frowned.

“And she’s supposed to get it to Noctis,” Eleos completed the thought.

Vesper tilted her head a bit. “You can hear it?”

“We are _both_ the Messenger’s chosen, Vesper,” Eleos shrugged. “Just roll with it.”

_Not the King of Light_ , Zerno said. _He has another purpose. Give it to the Lucian King whom we chose._

“Voti?”

Eleos pointed out, “He’s already got a Ring.”

“So then he’ll have two,” Vesper mused. “And then what?”

_Your next steps should become clearer after taking these._

“Shiva’s frozen tits, could you be any more cryptic? We’re on the same side!”

“As crude as that was,” Vesper said, “she has a point. What advantage will we gain in giving it to Voti instead of seeing it to Noctis?”

_We are asking for your trust and compliance._

“Every other time the Messengers have asked for trust or just moved us like we’re chess pieces on your board, it’s made sense in the end,” Eleos pouted. “But this one doesn’t. If you can’t tell us why you want the second Ring, why should we listen to you?”

The Citadel heaved and dust rained down from the ceiling. Heavy stomping came from the other side of the hidden door. Eleos and Vesper spared each other a glance before beginning to run. Zerno braced itself on Vesper’s shoulder. They ran out from their space beside the throne steps and across the hall, making it halfway before the door behind them blew open.

Vesper turned to face Glauca as he strode into the hall. “Any chance of an imbuement to help here, Zerno?” she asked. She pulled a broadsword out of the aether and took a defensive stance.

_Negative_ , Zerno said. _My power is to help ignore injuries. If that power becomes necessary, you will have it._

“It’s over,” Glauca rumbled. “The Wall is gone and soon daemons will roam the streets. Lucis is fallen.” Glauca outstretched a hand to the two of them. “Surrender the Ring.”

Eleos scoffed. “You have to know that we’re gonna have to say no.”

Glauca’s voice echoed within his armor, eerie and deep. “What can you hope to do? The two of you against the Empire? How will you save Insomnia with no wall—?”

“We’re not here for Insomnia,” Eleos cut him off. She drew her kukris from the aether and took her stance beside Vesper.

“The Crystal wanes, and you and your Empire are too short-sighted to see,” Vesper continued.

“My Empire, she says,” Glauca scoffed. “Lucis. Niflheim. We fight for home, one which your King gave up in order to save his own city. Niflheim promised to _free_ our homes. You are of Galahdan descent,” he lifted and pointed his sword at Eleos; then to Vesper, “and you of Tenebrae. Why, then, would your allegiance fall to a King who would abandon your homeland?”

“It’s like he didn’t hear a word I said,” Vesper groaned.

“Or me,” Eleos shrugged. “We fight for the world. King Regis fought for the same thing. Niflheim would let the Crystal rot!”

“Should the Crystal lose its power, the world loses its future. There will be no Galahd, no Tenebrae. No Cleigne.”

“Do not use my homeland against me! King Regis thought only of his son and his city,” Glauca snarled. “He betrayed his people.”

Vesper and Eleos looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. There was no reasoning with him. Quieter, Vesper said, “You are blinded with hatred. We’re fighting for the same thing; our home.”

“We just, y’know,” Eleos said, “have a broader idea of what ‘home’ is.”

Glauca charged, blade first. Vesper brought her sword up to block the attack. Eleos threw a kukri and flashed away in a warp. Vesper grit her teeth and dug in her heels while Glauca pressed down on her. Eleos reappeared on Glauca’s back and dug her second blade into a gap in his pauldron.

He growled; the blade stuck in the meat of his shoulder. He turned his blade and spun to loosen Eleos from his back, but she held on tight and dug the kukri in deeper. His sword came around to swat at her. She dropped her hold and warped away before the sharp edge could slice at her unarmored back. The sword made a sharp _clang_ when it hit his own armor, but bounced off harmlessly. She recalled her kukri in his shoulder to her hand.

Vesper lunged and thrust her sword at Glauca, but he parried the attack. She followed up with a swing, but this was blocked too before Glauca stepped into her guard and brought the pommel down on her shoulder. He then slid the blade along her shoulder in a neat, deep slice. Zerno hissed and melted into Vesper’s body with a bright shimmer. Blood began to flow down her arm, but Vesper brought her blade up into Glauca’s side as though she wasn’t injured. He winced, yelled, and backed off.

Eleos warped back in, and made to latch onto Glauca’s back once more; however, she was thwarted and blocked. The flat of Glauca’s blade caught her as she came out of the warp, batting her away and throwing her back against the wall.

More dust. The throne room creaked and shook.

Continuing to bleed, Vesper charged with a yell and took Glauca’s attention off of Eleos. Their blades glanced and sparks flew, back and forth with echoing glances. _What’s taking her?_ Vesper thought. She glanced to the side where Eleos had been thrown and grit her teeth before turning back to Glauca and parrying a blow. Against the wall, Eleos groaned and rubbed at the back of her head; her hand came away bloody.

“Zerno, go to Eleos,” Vesper murmured.

_You will pass into unconsciousness should I leave you._

“You speak into nothing as though it will listen,” Glauca mused. “What magic is this?”

Vesper ignored Glauca. “I said what I said,” she said. “ _Go. To. Eleos._ ”

_I can not leave you to die._

Eleos muttered something indistinct from the wall. Her head hung, chin to chest, and she clenched her eyes shut.

“Gods help me, Zerno! Go to her!”

_You do not command me._

Glauca stepped forward and brought his blade down again. Vesper dodged—but not enough. The blade scraped down her other arm, ripping through her jacket and down to the bone. Vesper kept her eyes forward, away from the gash, and charged again with a snarled cry.

Her eyes blackened, mist rolling off of her in waves. Glauca took his stance and blocked the coming attacks as they came rapid and unyielding.

_The Night is becoming of you_ , Zerno mused. _May She keep you in the fight._ Zerno reformed on Vesper’s shoulder before hopping away and scurrying to Eleos.

The doors at the formal entrance to the room banged open. Nyx and Luche, armed and angry, ran in and began to charge Glauca from the back. Vesper kept him occupied with her strikes, strong and furious. The blood from her arms spattered onto Glauca’s armor while the mist formed an aura of black around her.

Luche took a few shots, the bullets pinging off of the armor but his spread tight and controlled. He turned to try and face the men joining the fight; Vesper’s eyes were pitch black as she growled and swung her blade into his chest plate, forcing him to stumble.

“Eyes on _me_ ,” she snarled, and thrust her blade towards his stomach. He parried; but he was slowing down. They crossed blades, again, and again, and again. Then, Glauca pushed against her with a shout. She stumbled; the black aura grew darker while her sword slipped from her hand and shattered into crystals as it fell back into the aether.

Nyx ran to Eleos’s side just as Zerno faded into her. He began to help her stand, and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’ve got a Messenger,” Eleos waved him away. “I think I’ll be fine.”

At the same time, Luche opened fire again and caught Glauca’s attention. “Lazarus, crossed again.” Glauca dipped his head and fixed his grip. “You had a future with the Empire. We were going _home_. We could be free.”

“We’ve been free,” Luche said. “And we have a home here, in Insomnia. We’ve been too blind to see it.”

“And what of your people? Your family?”

“My _family_ is here,” he said. He glowered. “You had me make an attempt on her life. How I overlooked her importance still astounds me. How _you_ overlook what makes hearth and home worth fighting for… Your sight is set too narrow.”

Blade first, Glauca pressed through the rain of bullets that followed Luche’s words. Luche backed up and tossed aside the rifle as he clicked empty; he drew a sidearm, braced, and fired.

Glauca thrust his blade towards Luche’s throat. Luche stepped aside and took the blade through his shoulder instead. His scream echoed along the stone tiles. Glauca tried to turn his blade deeper into Luche’s body, but Nyx and Eleos both tackled him from the side. Together, they pushed both him and his blade away from their fellow Glaive. Luche slid down the wall and blood drenched his shoulder.

Nyx dove into the fight, blades drawn. Seeing Glauca sufficiently occupied fending off one of the Glaive’s best hand-to-hand fighters, Vesper joined Eleos as she knelt at Luche’s side. Eleos’s eyes watered as she pressed on the gash on Luche’s arm. “Zerno, please; who do I need to call upon to fix this?” Eleos cried.

_Our imbuements are only for the Crystal’s champions. There is none who can offer help._

“Bullshit,” Vesper said. “Phoenix could do something.”

_We must save our strength and power for Her champions; you two, the Lucian King, and the Oracle King._

“Oracle King?” Eleos mused. “ _Urgh_ , later. Who’s Phoenix?” she asked Vesper.

“A Messenger from Tenebraen myth,” she answered. “It can heal wounds one would normally die from.”

“Phoenix sounds great,” Luche groaned. “I don’t want to die,” he continued.

“Give your dead sister peace! What do you fight for if not that?” Glauca yelled, his voice no longer echoing or metallic; Nyx had dug a blade into a hinge beside Glauca’s jaw and pried off a piece of the armor. Underneath, Titus Drautos spouted poisonous words to Nyx which forced him to falter.

Eleos reacted to the coming attack before Vesper could. Caught in a flash of memory, Nyx hesitated a second too long; Glauca brought his blade down. Eleos turned away from Luche, hands still sticky with blood, and cried out.

“ _Dad, no!!!_ ”

Glauca’s sword lit, blue and orange flames dancing along the blade and fanning out as he brought it down. Nyx raised his kukris to block; too slow.

The room brightened, the light of a thousand stars shining from Eleos’s skin. She warped across the hall and intercepted the flaming blade with her own kukri. No longer did she create a shadow, nor did she have any color left in her eyes—pure white. Behind her, Nyx covered his eyes with both arms; Luche winced and also turned away.

Eleos snarled and pushed against Glauca’s sword. There was no contest. Glauca tried to hold his stance, but she screeched and stepped forward into his guard. His sword snapped against the force Eleos put forth. She swung and caught Glauca’s hand, disarming him of the hilt with its broken blade. Then she shoved her kukri into his middle, clean through the armor. With another snarl and yell, she dragged the blade up and into his chest cavity.

He stumbled back and clutched at the kukri.

“Eos…” Glauca dripped blood from his lips and gushed from his abdomen.

“ _El_ -eos,” Eleos corrected him. “Not that it matters now. The world will live,” she said. “You, however, will not.”

Glauca grunted and chuckled, resting back against the opposite wall. “The world. Hmm. I meant what I said, girl. You’d be wise to take note.”

“Eleos,” Vesper called out. “We need to get Luche out of here.”

“But Glauca—”

“He’s as good as dead, kid,” Nyx said. He helped Luche stand, an arm around his waist and Luche’s good arm pulled over his shoulder. “The city’s evacuated. Crowe’s waiting on us.”

Eleos growled. “I should snuff you out now.” She took a few steps and pulled her kukri out of Glauca’s chest. “But you’ll die soon enough.” The light she emitted faded away, and she fumbled the kukri. It clanged on the floor and vanished into the aether; Vesper crossed the hall and caught her as she lost consciousness.

She pulled Eleos away from Glauca as he slid down the wall to sit. The mist around her darkened as she pulled Eleos onto her shoulders and secured her hold around Eleos’s leg and hand. She followed Nyx out of the throne room and through the Citadel’s entrance hall, out the main doors, and down the grand stone staircase. There, idling in a black sedan, Pelna was behind the wheel with Lady Lunafreya primly seated in the backseat. Crowe paced along the length of the car, but stopped when she saw the four of them exit the Citadel.

“Fuck, Luche!” She ran up and took Luche’s other side to help him walk. Together, she and Nyx eased him into the back of the car beside Lady Lunafreya, who began to whisper and call upon her own brand of magic to heal his shoulder.

“Put me down,” Eleos slurred from Vesper’s shoulder. Vesper leaned down and set the other woman on her feet, but kept an arm around her as she swayed. Finally, the black mist surrounding Vesper faded away and dissipated. Her eyes returned to normal, no longer vast pools of black. The gash on Vesper’s arm had sealed up and Eleos was able to stand, though they held each other up with their arms around each other’s waist.

Crowe got into the backseat with Luche and Nyx turned to face Vesper and Eleos. “We’ll need to find another car,” he said. “The sun’s gonna set soon and we need to be on the road when the daemons start coming out.”

To the left, a sharp bark caught their attention. Pryna sat a few paces away, wagging her tail and panting happily. Vesper and Eleos smiled, first at each other, and then to Nyx.

“Thank you for your concern,” Vesper said, “but we have our own way out of the city.”

Nyx frowned, contemplating the news, and then said, “So then… this is goodbye, huh.”

Eleos shook her head gently, still smiling. “No way. More like, ‘see you later.’”

“I’m sure we’ll be in touch,” Vesper added. “You’re safe for now, Nyx Ulric. Get the others to safety.”

“And then contact Cor,” Eleos continued. “He knows about the Crystal and all that—or, I guess, he will know?”

“Yes, do wait a week or so before calling. Give us time to, ah, meet him?”

“This is just going to get more confusing from here, isn’t it?” Nyx chuckled.

“Yeah, probably.” Eleos sighed. “I wish you could have known me. I have so many good memories.”

Nyx stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m willing to make some,” he said. “We’re still family, yeah? After this is all over, we’ll meet up and you can tell me everything.”

Pelna honked the horn and startled them. He shook his head and continued, “Gotta meet your other dad, first, though. That’s gonna be… interesting.”

“You two are great together,” Eleos said. “You’ll love him. In so many ways. It’s kinda disgusting.”

Nyx laughed nervously. “You’re not making me feel better, kid. We’ll have to talk about your glowworm act back there,” he pointed at her. “Something’s up with you two. Be careful.”

Vesper and Eleos waved him away while Pryna trotted up to them and sat at Vesper’s knee. They watched as he got into the car and Pelna drove away through the rubble of Insomnia. The sky was pale yellow and pink, no clouds. But the blaring car alarms in the distance coupled with the dust rising from the ashes of the city ruined the beauty of the sunset.

“Okay, Pryna,” Eleos said. “He’s safe. Thank you, for letting us have this chance.”

“If you could, bring us to the Disc?” Vesper asked. “We need to meet Voti and Cor.”

“Oh shit! The Ring!” Eleos pulled it out of her pocket and held it in her palm between them. They both winced and looked out at where the car was long since gone. Eleos blew out a heaving sigh. “I guess it’s going to Voti, then, huh?”

Pryna yipped, turned around in a circle, and pressed the length of her body against both Eleos and Vesper’s legs. The world dissolved, swirled, and disappeared.

But when the colors came back and the world solidified under their feet again, they were where they’d asked to be… but certainly not _when_. The Disc was dull and quiet, and on the side of the road leading up to a large metal gate stood their third companion.

Once Voti saw them, he snarled and stomped his way through the gravel and heat. “Where were you two?”

Vesper and Eleos looked at each other and frowned. Vesper started to ask, “What do you—?”

“Titan is gone,” Voti snapped. “I couldn’t… My father fought the Astral and almost forged the covenant. I had _no other choice._ ”

Eleos glowered. “What did you do? Where’s Cor?”

“Cor’s fine,” Voti said. “He left hours ago, to follow my father. No I… Garuda’s dead. They offered me help in the battle and died in the process.”

“Garuda?” Eleos asked.

“A Messenger! We lost a damn Messenger because _you_ had to go and save someone who was going to die anyway!”

“Well, it worked! My dad is alive—”

“What did you choose, Voti?” Vesper asked.

Voti looked away; at his feet, the trees in the distance, and then meandered his sight back to the women before him. “I… I forged the covenant in my father’s place.”


End file.
